University of California • Berkeley
^
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
GUIDE TO HEALTH,
BEING AN
EXPOSITION OF THE PRINCIPLES
OF THE
THOMSONIAN SYSTEM OF PRACTICE,
AND THEIR
MODE OF APPLICATION
IN THE
CURE OF EVERY FORM OF DISEASE;
EMBRACING A. CONCISE VIEW OF
THE VARIOUS THEORIES OF ANCIENT AND MODERN PRACTICE
BY BENJAMIN COLBY.
Third Edition, enlarged and revised.
Let us strip our profession of every thing that looks like mystery. — RUSH.
MILFORD, N.H.
JOHN BURNS.
1846.
PREFACE
TO THE FOURTH EDITION,
THREE editions of this work are already before the public.
The rapid sale of more than five thousand copies, and the constant
and increasing demand, from every quarter, for a still further ex-
tension of it, has induced the proprietor to issue the fourth edition.
He cannot but be grateful to a discriminating community for the
liberal patronage thus already bestowed. And at the same time,
he cherishes the hope and belief that he is deserving, in some
measure, of this consideration, in that he is delivering the world
from the use of the dangerous and deadly drugs to which the dis-
eased have so long and so vainly resorted, and directing them to
milder and far more effectual measures for the recovery and
preservation of health.
No pains have been spared to render this book what its title
indicates, — A Guide to Health. A careful attention to its prin-
ciples and directions will enable almost any family to combat
successfully all the ordinary forms of disease, without being
poisoned by the fearful [remedies] of the druggist, or plagued by
the bills of those who prescribe or administer them.
It would be easy to add a long array of valuable names, as
recommendations to this treatise. But such a course (common
and laudable as it is) the proprietor deems unnecessary. If it
were not a recommendation in itself, surely the rapid sale of so
many thousand copies, and the constant demand from every di-
rection for more, would argue a blindness on the part of the
public, into which no one believes it has yet fallen. It is there-
fore trusted, as heretofore, on its own merits — in the confident
belief that it deserves all the consideration it has yet received, and
with the expectation that it will continue to receive that patron-
age which it has already earned for itself.
THE PROPRIETOR.
MILFOBD, N. H., May, 1848.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845,
By BENJAMIN COLBY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of New Hampshire.
U-l
PREFACE.
IN presenting to the public this little volume, advocating aud
explaining a system of Medical Practice, diverse from the popu-
lar systems of the day — a system against which there exists
much unfounded, deep-rooted prejudice — prejudice, not based
on a knowledge of its principles, on a trial of its remedial
agents, but on the false and ridiculous reports in circulation
against it ; a brief history of the circumstances and motives
that led to its publication, may not be uninteresting to the reader.
Having spent a large proportion of the last fifteen years of
my life in examining the different medical theories, and observ-
ing the results of those theories carried out in practice, I arrived
at conclusions that were to me startling — that were painful to
contemplate — that could not fail to inspire in every benevolent
man a fixed determination to wage an uncompromising war
against systems productive of so much sorrow, misery, and
death.
The evidences brought to bear upon my mind, in the testi
mony of the most eminent of the faculty, statesmen, and phi '
losophers, and my own personal experience and observation,
compelled me to believe, although very reluctantly, in conse-
quence of the regard I had for those of my friends who were
engaged in the practice of medicine, that the science of medi
cine, as taught in the schools of physic, and as practised from
the time of Paracelsus until the present, was a series of blind
experiments with the most deadly poisons ; the effect of which
is now felt by millions of its unhappy victims, while millions
more sleep beneath the clods of the valley, cut off in the vigor
of youth and strength of manhood, by these poisons. I do not
feel responsible for a belief, that the force of evidence urges
upon me, any more than I should for falling to the ground from
a height, when all intercepting objects are removed. Justice
to my fellow-men demands of me that I should fearlessly express
•IV PREFACE.
iny views, and I shall not demur. It is ray candid opinion, and
that opinion has not been formed hastily, that nine tenths of all
the medical practice of the nineteenth century, including a
portion, but by no means an equal portion, of all the different
systems, is not based on scientific principles, or benevolence
and truth, but on cupidity, avarice, and a desire for fame, on
the one part, and ignorance and misplaced confidence, on the
other. Remove these pillars, and the gilded temple called
medical science, that medical authors have been propping up
for four thousand years — the material of which it is composed
not being sufficiently strong to sustain its own weight — would
fall to the ground with as much certainty as did the edifice
from which Samson, with giant's strength, removed the pillars,
One quarter part of nearly all the newspapers throughout the
country is filled with flaming advertisements of quack nos-
trums— the most of which are prepared without any regard to
scientific principles or adaptedness to cure disease ; for which
millions of dollars are annually paid, and not one in a hundred
receives any permanent benefit therefrom.
The editor of the Portland Tribune gives the following as the
origin of that celebrated medicine, Brandreth's Pills : — " A few
years ago, a young Englishman, by the name of Anson, was an
under-servant in a large pill establishment in London, where
he received trifling pay ; but he managed to lay by sufficient
funds to bring him to this country. He arrived at New York ;
called himself Dr. Brandreth, from London ; said he was a
grandson of a distinguished doctor by that name, who died
some years since. He was so extremely ignorant, that he
wrote his name, or scratched it rather, " Dr. Benjamin Bran-
dreth, M. D." He hired an office, made pills, advertised them
pretty freely, and now they are all over the country. By such
empiricism, this individual, whose real name is Anson, has ob-
tained the cognomen of " Prince of Quacks," and has accumu-
lated a handsome fortune, while not one in a thousand who has
taken his pills, has any doubts of his being a regular physician.
Such is the success of quackery ; and in this manner are the
American people gulled, when if known, they themselves, of
brown bread and aloes, could make a better pill. Mr. A., alias
Dr. B., in the course of time opened a shop in Philadelphia for
the sale of his medicine, and appointed a man by the name of
PREFACE. v
Wright as his sole agent. In a short time the Doctor and he
quarreled, and had a newspaper controversy ; the result of which
was, Mr. -W. set up for himself, made a new pill, or rather gave
a new name to an old one, calling it the " Indian Purgative
Pill," advertised it freely, employed agents, &c., and now it is
used pretty extensively as an INDIAN medicine, when probably
not a son of the forest knows of its existence.
In a similar way nearly all the medicines advertised so exten-
sively, and recommended so extravagantly for their intrinsic
virtues, were first brought into existence. Should the thousand
pills of different names, daily vended in this country, and swaK
lowed by the dozen, be analyzed by the nicest process, they
would be found to contain nearly the same ingredients.
s "The 'Matchless Sanative,' said to be a German invention,
was sold in very small vials, at the moderate price of two dollars
and fifty cents, as a certain cure for the consumption. It wag
nothing more, we believe, than sweetened water, and yet hun-
dreds were induced to buy it, because its price was so exorbi-
tant, presuming by this that its virtues were rare j and many a
poor widow was drained of her last farthing to obtain this
worthless stuff. Even the Sanative, in its conspicuous advertise-
ments, was not lacking in lengthy recommendations of its super-
lative virtues — throwing all other medicines far into the shade,
i Had regular physicians adopted a system of practice in ac-
cordance with nature, reason, and common sense, they would
have retained the confidence of the people, and no medicine
could have been successfully introduced, unless sanctioned by
themselves. But the misery and death occasioned by their
practice having been too apparent to be misunderstood, and
failing to cure in many curable cases, many have lost all confi-
dence in them, and are ready to catch at any medicine that ia
recommended for their complaints. Men with large acquisi-
tiveness and small conscientiousness, almost entirely destitute
of medical knowledge, taking advantage of this state of things,
have flooded the country with their pretended cure-alls, that
they themselves would never think of using if afflicted with
the same complaints for which they are so confidently recom-
mended. Benevolence, conscientiousness and knowledge may
have induced many to prepare and sell secret medicines, but
avarice and ignorance many more.
\l PREFACE.
The only way to prevent quackery is to diffuse a knowledge
of medicine among the people, and also to point out to them
the proper course to pursue to prevent being sick. This I have
made a feeble effort to do in this little work, reserving nothing
for future emolument, for which I expect to be ridiculed by
those it is designed to benefit, and persecuted by those whose
craft is in danger; begging the pardon of the "literati" for
entering the authors' ranks with so few of the requisite qualifi-
cations, but asking no favors of the medical faculty, scientific
as they may be ; for if I have not succeeded in proving the
Thomsonian system true, it cannot possibly come farther from
the truth than their own.
I have endeavored to present plain, simple facts in a plain,
simple manner, so as to be easily understood by all. The tech-
nicalities of medical works are left out, or explained in a glos-
sary, where any medical word used in this work may be found,
with its meaning. I acknowledge my indebtedness to Drs.
Thomson, Curtis, and others, for the principles herein contain-
ed, especially to Dr. Curtis, Professor of the Medical Institute
at Cincinnati, who has done more than any other man to pre-
sent the Thomsonian system to the world in a receivable shape.
This little work is designed to be, as its name declares, a
Guide to Health. Not a guide for a few to enable them to get
rich by selling advice and medicine to the many ; but a guide
to all to enable them to avoid becoming the victims of the ava-
rice and duplicity of physicians. Many of them, to be sure,
take a philanthropic and noble course, consulting always the
interest of those who place confidence in them. But common
observation leads me to think that the large majority of physi-
cians consult their own interests first, in doing which they are
not " sinners above all others," as the common motto is, Let
every man look out for himself. Therefore, if every man was
his own physician, the interest of physician and patient would
be identified. Those who make the practice of medicine a
source of gair will ridicule the idea of every man being his
own physician. >3o have priests ridiculed the idea of letting
every man read..the Bible, and judge for himself of the impor-
tant truths therein contained. As well might the village baker
ridicule the idea of the good housewife making her own bread ;
alleging that it required a.loog course of &•. "$L to make bread,
PREFACE.
Vll
and the people must not only buy all their bread of them at an
exorbitant price, but pay them a fee for telling them what kind
they must eat, and how much. The preparation and use of
medicine to cure disease, requires no more science than the
preparation and use of bread.
Every head of a family ought to understand the medicinal
properties of a sufficient number of roots and plants to cure any
disease that might occur in his or her family, and teach their
children the same. This is in accordance with the declaration
of the learned and philanthropic, and justly celebrated Rush.
He says, " Let us strip our profession of every thing that looks
like mystery and imposition, and clothe medical knowledge in
a dress so simple and intelligible, that it may become a part of
academical education in all seminaries of learning. Truth is
simple on all subjects ; and upon those essential to the happi-
ness of mankind, it is obvious to the meanest capacities. There
is no man so simple, that cannot be taught to cultivate grain,
and no woman who cannot be taught to make it into bread.
And shall the means of preserving our health, by the cultiva-
tion and preparation of proper aliments, be so intelligible, and
yet the means of restoring it when lost, so abstruse, that we
must take years of study to discover and apply them ? To
suppose this, is to call in question the goodness of the Deity, and
to believe that he acts without system and unity in his work.
Surgical operations and diseases that rarely occur, may require
professional aid ; but the knowledge necessary for these pur-
poses is soon acquired ; and two or three persons, separated
from other pursuits, would be sufficient to meet the demands
of a city containing forty thousand people."
The imposition practised by medical men in writing their
prescriptions in Latin, and the evils resulting from it by the
ignorance or carelessness of apothecaries or their clerks, who
may know nothing of the language in which the prescription is
written — the mistakes of whom have destroyed thousands of
lives, are too obvious to be misunderstood. The following nar-
ration of a circumstance which actually occurred in Boston a
few years since, taken from a paper published at the time, illus-
trates the folly of such a course : —
" A respectable physician of this city lately wrote a prescrip-
tion of certain articles to be procured at an apothecary's, and at
vjii PREFACE.
the bottom were the words, ' Lac Bovis.' A young lady took
the prescription to an apothecary, who did up three of the arti-
cles, and very gravely told her he had not the last-mentioned
article, Lac Bovis. She took the recipe to another shop, and
was there equally unsuccessful — and upon her inquiring whe-
ther it was a scarce or costly article, she was informed he could
find no such article on his book, and he did not know where it
might be procured, or what the price of it might be. On re-
turning home, and acquainting her friends with her ill success,
she was not a little amused wrhen told she had been inquiring at
apothecaries' shops for cow's milk!"
With these preliminary remarks we submit this volume to the
people, trusting it may lead many a bewildered victim of disease
into the paths of health.
Nashua, JV. #., 1844.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
THE rapid sale of the first edition of this work, of one thou-
sand copies, has induced the author to revise, correct, and
enlarge it, and by the advice of those who were competent to
judge of its merits, to get it stereotyped ; this will enable him
to get out new editions as fast as the sale may require, making
such improvements as future investigation may lead him to
think proper. Those alone who have undertaken the task,
know the difficulty of explaining and clearly illustrating the
science of medicine, in as few words as must necessarily be
used, to treat on so many branches of the subject, as are treated
on in this small work ; but his object is to get out a work,
the price of which shall not be an obstacle in the way of any
person's possessing it who may wish, and thus diffuse more
generally the important knowledge therein contained.
Concord, April 10, 1845.
CONTENTS.
Abscess 133
Abortion 131
Adhesive plaster 110
Ague and fever 130
Ague in the face 132
Air 51
Anti-dyspeptic powder .... 1 08
Anti-spasmodic tincture ... 1 1 0
Anti:dyspeptic pills 116
Anti-emetic drops . — 117
Antimony 28
Apoplexy, (see FITS.)
Asthma 1 33
Astringents 84
Balmony 89
Bayberry 84
Bathing 53
Barberry 91
Bethroot. 85
Brief review of the differ-
ent theories of medicine . .15
Bilious colic, (see COLIC.)
Boerhaave, testimony of. ...17
Bitter root 92
Barton, Prof., testimony of. .24
Bleeding from the nose . . . .134
from the lungs 1 34
from the stomach 134
Blistering 29
Bigelow, Dr. Jacob, testi-
mony 15
Brown, Dr. William, testi-
mony 19
Black cohosh 101
Biles 133
Breasts inflamed 161
Boiler, portable steam 123
Boneset 79
Blood-letting 29
remarks on, by Dr. J.
J. Steele..29
by Dr. Reid 29
by Dr. Beach 29
by Dr. Lobstein 30
by Dr. Thatcher 30
by Magendie 31
Bones broken, (see FRAC-
TURES.)
Bread of life, (see STIMU-
LATING CONSERVE,) 1J4
Bruises 134
Burns or scalds 135
Butternut 93
syrup 93
cordial 93
Calomel 22
remarks on, by Dr. Pow-
ell 22
by Prof. Waterhouse.24
by Prof. Barton 24
by Dr. Chapman. . . . 23
by Dr. Graham 23
by Dr. Robinson .... 23
by Dr. Cox 25
Hymn on 27
Canada snake root 83
Cancer 135
« plaster 120
Canker, compound for 107
Canker rash 156
Cayenne 80
tincture of 114
Caustic vegetable, (see
CANCER.)
Catarrh in the head 143
snuff for 120
CONTENTS.
Chicken pox 126
Cholera morbus 140
Clothing 50
Cold water cure 36
remarks on, by H. C.
Wright 37
Crawley, or fe.ver root 77
Coolwort 95
Comfrey 100
Camomile 100
Crane's bill 101
Colic 136
Composition powder 104
Compounds 103
Conserve, stimulating .... 114
Consumption 137
Convulsions 141
Corns 141
Cough powder 112
drops 113
Cholera syrup Ill
Course of medicine 122
directions for 125
Croup 141
Compound tinct. of myrrh. 114
Chilblains 144
Coughs and colds 144
Costiveness 144
Curtis, Dr., remarks on
midwifery . . 179
remarks on lobelia 74
Dandelion 95
Delirium tremens 145
Demulcents 99
Diarrhoea 140
syrup 122
powders 105
Diuretics 94
Diuretic syrup 115
Directions for a course of
medicine 125
Disease 60
the unity of 62
causes of 63
effects of 67
treatment of. 69
different forms of 127
Diet 49
Pislocations 146
Dose of medicine 104
Directions for gathering
and preparing medicine. 102
Diabetes 145
Dropsy 146
Dyspepsia 147
Dysentery 140
syrup Ill
Drowning, suspended ani-
mation from 163
Ear-ache 148
Elm poultice 116
Elm salve 109
Emetic powder 112
administering of 126
Enemas 122
Epilepsy, (see FITS.)
Erysipelas 14S
Essences 115
Effects of the remedies
used by the medical
faculty 22
Evan root 101
Exercise 51
Expectorants 96
Felons 149
Female restorative .106
powders 107
syrup 106
tonic powders 119
Fever 125
Fever and ague 130
Fits 149
Flowers, when to collect.. 102
Fractures 146
Food and drink 55
Fundament, falling of 149
Fluor albus 150
Galen's theory 16
Ginger 81
Golden seal 88
Gout 150
Gravel 150
Gum arabic 102
myrrh 91
Health 47
remarks on, by Dr.
Courtney.. 55
O. S. Fowler 58
High cranberry 102
Healing salve , 110
CONTENTS.
XI
Head-ache snuff 116
Hernia 158
Hemlock 87
Hippocrates' theory 16
Hoffman's theory 17
Hot drops 114
Homoaopathic system 33
Hydropathy 36
Hysterics, (see FITS.)
Hops 101
Horsemint 102
Hull's, Dr., bilious physic. 119
Indigestion 147
Inflammation, internal.... 151
external 152
Injections 122
powders for 109
Itch ointment 120
Indian hemp 1 01
Jaundice 152
Juniper 95
King's evil, (see SCROFULA.)
Lady's slipper 97
Laxatives 92
Leaves, when to collect.. .102
Liniment, stimulating 112
Lobelia inflata 73
remarks on, by Dr.
Curtis... 74
by Prof. Tully 75
by Dr. Waterhouse . .76
by Dr. Hersey 76
by Dr. Peckham 76
tincture of 113
administering of 126
pills 108
Lock-jaw, (see FITS.)
Lungs, consumption of. . . .137
Medicine, science of 13
remarks on, by Dr. J.
Graham ... 15
by Dr. Bigelow 15
by Jefferson 18
by Dr. Brown 19
by Dr. Whiting 21
by Dr. Waterhouse. .21
by Dr. Rush 20
dose of 104
Magendie on blood-letting. .31
Materia Medica 71
2
Measles 152
Mercury 22
Mineral poisons 20
Mayweed 100
Meadow-fern 102
ointment 121
Mother's cordial 107
Menstruation obstructed . . 154
profuse 154
Midwifery 167
remarks on, by Dr.
Beach . . 169
by Mrs. Arnold.. ..171
general directions in.. 171
previous treatment in. 171
treatment during labor 171
treatment after delivery!74
of after-pains 174
of costiveness 175
of flooding 175
of milk leg 175
of sore nipples 175
of tying and cutting
the navel string. . . . 173
management of the
placenta 1 74
tongue-tied children . . 1 76
rupture in children . . . 176
still-born infants 175
Mumps 153
Nervines 97
Nipples, sore 175
Ointment for piles 115
itch 120
meadow-fern 121
Opium 28
Obstructed menstruation .. 154
Ox gall 102
Palsy or paralysis 154
Pennyroyal 82
Piles 155
Pile ointment , 115
Pills No. 1 108
No. 2 108
Phthisic, (see ASTHMA.)
Plaster, adhesive 110
strengthening. ...... .110
cancer 120
Prickly ash 81
Poplar ,,,..,.83
Xll
CONTESTS.
Pleurisy root 96
Polypus powder 118
Poultice, elm 116
Putrid sore throat 156
Pyrola 90
Pleurisy 155
Profuse menstruation 154
Queen of the meadow 94
Raspberry leaves 86
Restorative, female 106
Rheumatism 157
'Rupture 158
Relaxants 73
Salve, healing 110
f elder 109
Science of medicine 13
Scald head 158
Scalds, (see BURNS.)
Scarlet fever 156
Scrofula 159
Scullcap 98
Seeds, when to collect 102
Skunk cabbage 96
Slippery elm 99
Small pox 160
Smelling salts 116
Snake head, (see BALMONY.)
Snuff, head-ache 116
polypus 118
catarrh 120
Spiced bitters 105
Stimulants 79
Sumach 85
Saffron 101
Solomon's seal 101
Spikenard 101
Stimulating liniment 112
Smith's, Dr. Elisha, anti-
I mercurial syrup 121
Sudorific powders 119
Stimulating conserve 114
St. Anthony's fire 148
St. Vitus' dance 162
Stone 150
Stoppage in the bowels,
* (see COLIC.)
Strengthening plaster 110
Sore or inflamed breast . . .161
Syrup, dysentery Ill
female strengthening. 106
worm Ill
diuretic 115
butternut 93
for purifying the bjood 118
anti-mercurial 121
Synopsis of the medical
properties of plants used
occasionally 100
Spruce beer 118
Suspended animation 163
Shingles 162
Testimony of regular phy-
sicians in favor of female
midwives 177
Thomsonian system 40
t testimony of old school
physicians in favor of 42
Thorough wort 79
Tic doloureux 164
Tincture of myrrh 113
of lobelia 113
of Cayenne 114
of fir balsam ....115
Treatment of disease 69
different forms 127
children 1 76
Tonics 88
Tootn-ache drops 117
Unicorn 90
Uvaursi 102
Vapor bath 123
Vegetable caustic, (see
CANCER.)
Washington's treatment... 31
White pond lily 86
Witch hazel 87
Wintergreen 90
Worm syrup Ill
Wine bitters 117
Whitlows 166
White swelling 166
Wounds 164
Whooping cough 165
Yellow dock 101
GUIDE TO HEALTH.
PART I.
— — — *
CHAPTER I
THE SCIENCE OF MEDICINE.
WHAT is it ? What are the principles on which
it is founded ? and what are the results of those
principles, carried out in practice? Science is
knowledge. The science of medicine is a know-
ledge of the art of preventing and curing disease.
Where can this knowledge be obtained ? Should
we heap together all that has been written on the
subject of medicine, it would form a mountain,
the base of which would spread out over the
earth, and its summit penetrate the clouds. In
perusing these works, we are astonished and dis-
appointed : astonished, that such a combination
of talent, erudition, and persevering research, should
arrive at conclusions so visionary and unsatisfac-
tory ; disappointed, in not finding the knowledge
of a remedy for the cure of disease. We must
give these authors the credit of making untiring
effort, and bestowing incessant labor upon the
subject, but like the man who attempted to cross
a pond frozen over, during a violent snow-storm ;
the snow flew so thick, that he soon lost sight
of either shore, and after wandering many hours,
14 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
he found himself on the same shore from which
he started. So with medical authors : having no
compass, and the visionary theories of others fly-
ing so thick about them, involved them in dark-
ness, and they wandered in uncertainty and doubt,
until they arrived at the same point from which
they started, having found no facts on which to
base medical science.
The reason is obvious. Truth is plain and
simple. God, in his wisdom, has adapted impor-
tant truths to the capacity of feeble intellects. —
" has chosen the weak things of the world to
confound the wise." While the learned and wise
in the literary lore of medical universities were
groping amidst this darkness, uncertainty and
doubt, in search of facts on which to base a cor-
rect theory — each fully conscious that the discov-
ery of such facts would enable him to write his
name high on the temple of fame — Dr. THOMSON,
an illiterate farmer, stumbled on the prize. Rude
and uncultivated though he was, he discovered
facts which are destined to overturn the visionary
theories of his predecessors. With nothing more
than a general knowledge of the structure of the
human body and the functions of its organs, he,
by experience alone, dictated by common sense
and reason, obtained the knowledge of a safe and
efficient method of treating disease, that the expe-
rience of thousands, for forty years, has confirmed.
We shall endeavor to prove that the system of
practice introduced by Dr. Thomson, and improved
by many of his coadjutors, has more claim to the
appellation of " the science of medicine^ than any
other system that has been yet introduced. Im-
perfect though it may be, its success in the cure
of disease stands unrivalled.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 15
-•^iiMMsim
CHAPTER II.
BRIEF REVIEW OF DIFFERENT THEORIES OF MEDICINE
If medical works have been wanting in facts,
they have abounded in theories.
Dr. James Graham, the celebrated Medico-
Electrician, of London, says of medicine, " It hath
been very rich in theory, but poor, very poor, in
the practical application of it.'7
Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Professor in Harvard Uni-
versity, says in his annual address before the Med-
ical Society, in 1836, " The premature death of
medical men brings with it the humiliating con-
clusion, that while other sciences have been car-
ried forward within our own time, and almost
under our own eyes, to a degree of unprecedented
advancement, medicine, in regard to some of its
professed and important objects, (the cure of dis-
ease,) is still an INEFFECTUAL SPECULATION."
It is almost universally believed that the science
of medicine, as taught in the schools of physic,
and practised by the regular faculty, is based on
established principles, — principles that have been
handed down from generation to generation, that
are as demonstrable as those of mathematics, and
that a man who has studied three years, is pre-
pared to practise SCIENTIFICALLY. If this were the
case, it would save us the necessity of writing this
little volume, as the literary world groans under
the weight of medical works that have been
thrown upon it — the errors of which, each suc-
ceeding author has proved to be as numerous as
its pages. $? '
At what age of the world medicine for the cure
of disease was introduced, history does not ia-
2* .
IQ A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
form us. Frequent reference is made in the bible
to leaves for the healing of the nations, the plant
of renown, and to various other botanic medi-
cines ; but we have no account, in that book, of
mineral poisons ever being used to cure disease.
Such an inconsistency, sanctioned by it, would
have placed in the hands of the infidel a more pow-
erful argument, against its truth than now exists.
At whatever age disease may have made its
appearance, the first man whose writings on medi-
cine have descended to posterity in any thing
like a respectable shape, is HIPPOCRATES, born in
the island of Cos, about 460 years before Christ.
Supposing himself descended from the ancient
and fabled Esculapius, he devoted his mind assid-
uously to the healing art. He examined atten-
tively the opinions of others, thought and judged
for himself, and admitted only those principles that
to him seemed founded on reason. As a theory
of life, he advanced the doctrine that the body is
endowed with a semi-intelligent principle capable
of applying to its own use whatever is congenial
with it, and calculated to improve and restore it ;
and of rejecting and expelling whatever is nox-
ious, or tends to the generation of disease.
He believed in the conservative and restorative
power of nature, when its laws were strictly fol-
lowed, or aided by suitable remedies. Hippocra-
tes studied diligently, and almost exclusively, the
great book of nature, instead of the visionary
theories of men, and probably adopted a more
correct theory, and safe and successful practice,
than any who succeeded him, until the time of
Thomson.
CLAUDIUS GALANUS, or GALEN, was bom in Per-
gamos, in Asia Minor, A. D, 131. He depended
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 17
on innocuous vegetables ; sometimes simple, gen-
erally very much compounded ; and his practice
was so successful as in many instances to be as-
cribed to magic. The theory of Galen was the
acknowledged theory of medicine until about the
time of
PARACELSUS, who was born in Switzerland, in
1493. He appeared as a reformer of the system,
of Galen, rejecting his safe botanic treatment, and
administering, with a bold and reckless hand,
mercury, antimony, and opium.
Notwithstanding thousands were destroyed by
this reckless quack, his practice has been handed
down to the present time, undergoing various
changes and modifications. Says Professor Wa-
terhouse, " He (Paracelsus) was ignorant, vain,
and profligate, and after living the life of a vaga-
bond, he died a confirmed sot. He studied mys-
tery, and wrapped up his knowledge in terms of
his own invention, so as to keep his knowledge
confined to himself and a few chosen followers."
It appears by Prof. Waterhouse, of Harvard Uni-
versity, that mercury, antimony, and opium were
introduced into common practice by Paracelsus,
who was the chief of quacks, which remedies con-
tinue to the present day to be the most potent and
commonly used by the faculty.
STAHL, a native of Anspach, rejected all the
notions of his predecessors, and has the credit of
undoing all that had been done before him.
HOFFMAN, his cotemporary and friend, supposed
life dwelt somehow or other in the nervous system.
BOERHAAVE, a native of Holland, selected from
all the preceding writings whatever he deemed
valuable, preferring Hippocrates among the an-
cients, and Sydenham among the moderns. This
18 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
celebrated physician and scholar ordered in his
will, that all his books and manuscripts should be
burned, one large volume with silver clasps ex-
cepted. The physicians flocked to Leyden, en-
treating his executors to destroy his will. The
effects were sold. A German count, convinced
that the great gilt book contained the whole arca-
num of physic, bought it for ten thousand guil-
ders. It was all blank except the first page, on
,which was written, — "Keep the head cool, the
\feet warm, the body open, and reject all physi-
cians" How noble the course of this justly cele-
brated physician ! After thoroughly investigating
the theories of all his predecessors, and writing
out a theory of his own, which, when he came to
practise, he found so uncertain and dangerous,
that he would not leave it, with his sanction, to
entail misery and death on future generations.
He therefore gave his dying advice to the world,
with a full knowledge of the value of all the sys-
tems of medicine that had preceded him, to use a
few simple medicines, and reject all physicians.
Had this advice, given in the seventeenth century,
been regarded by the world, what a vast amount
of suffering and human life would have been
saved ! Its benefits would have been incalcula-
ble. A monument should have been erected to his
memory, on which should have been inscribed in
letters of gold, " HERE LIES AN HONEST MAN, THE
NOBLEST WORK OF GoD."
I Succeeding Boerhaave, were Haller, Cullen,
Hunter, Bostock, Brown, Rush, and Chapman, of
modern times ; the history of whom may be told
in the language of Thomas Jefferson, the illustri-
ous statesman and philosopher. In a letter to Dr.
Wistar, he says, " I have lived myself to see
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 19
the disciples of Hoffman, Boerhaave, Cullen, and
Brown succeed one another like the shifting fig-
ures of the magic lantern ; and their fancies, like
the dressers of the annual doll babies from Paris,
becoming from the novelty the vogue of the day,
each yielding to the next novelty its ephemeral
favors. The patient, treated on the fashionable
theory, sometimes gets well, in spite of the medi-
cine ; the medicine therefore cured him, and the
doctor receives new courage to proceed in his bold
experiments on the lives of his fellow-creatures.
I believe," continues Mr. Jefferson, " we may
safely affirm, that the presumptuous band of medi-
cal tyros, let loose upon the world, destroy more
human life in one year, than all the Robin Hoods,
Cartouches, and Macbeths do in a century. It is
in this part of medicine I wish to see a reform, an
abandonment of hypothesis for sober facts, the
highest degree of value set upon clinical observa-
tion, the least on visionary theories."
Dr. WILLIAM BROWN, who studied under the
famous Dr. William Cullen, lived in his family,
and lectured on his system, says in the preface to
his own works, " The author of this work has
spent more than twenty years in learning, teach-
ing and scrutinizing every part of medicine. The
first five years passed away in hearing others, and
studying what I had heard, implicitly believing
it, and entering upon the possession as a rich
inheritance. The next five, I was employed in
explaining and refining the several particulars,
and bestowing on them a nicer polish. During
the five succeeding years, nothing having pros-
pered according to my satisfaction, I grew indif-
ferent to the subject; and with many eminent
men. and even the vulgar, began to deplore the
«JO A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
healing art, as altogether uncertain and incompre-
hensible. All this time passed away without the
acquisition of any advantage, and without that
which, of all things, is most agreeable to the
mind — the light of truth ; and so great a portion
of the short and perishable life of man was totally
lost ! Here I wasr at this period, in the situation
of a traveller in an unknown country, who, after
losing every trace of his way, wanders in the
shades of night."
Dr. Brown's experience probably differs in only
one particular, from that of every student of the
theories of medicine, and that is, he spent seven-
teen years longer than is customary, to obtain
authority to kill according to law.
Dr. RUSH says, in his lectures in the University
of Pennsylvania, " I am insensibly led to make
an apology for the instability of the theories and
practices of physic. Those physicians generally
become most eminent, who soonest emancipate
themselves from the tyranny of the schools of
physic. Our want of success is owing to the fol-
lowing causes, — 1st, Our ignorance of disease, of
which dissections daily convince us. 2, Our ig-
norance of a suitable remedy, having frequent
occasion to blush at our prescriptions."
Had not Rush so soon fallen a victim to his
own favorite practice of bleeding, he would un-
questionably have laid a foundation for medical
reformation, that would ere this have swept away
those false theories with the besom of destruction.
He says, " We have assisted in multiplying dis-
eases ; we have done more — we have increased
their mortality. I will beg pardon of the faculty
for acknowledging, in this public manner, the
weakness of their profession." He then speaks
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 21
forth in the dignity of his manhood, and from the
honesty of his heart, " I am pursuing truth, and
am indifferent where I am led, if she only is my
leader." A man of so much benevolence and
conscientiousness as the venerable Rush could not
long have reconciled his acknowledgments and
practice.
Dr. L. M. WHITING, in a dissertation at an an-
nual commencement in Pittsfield, Mass., frankly
acknowledges that "the very principles upon
which most of the theories involving medical
questions have been based, were never established.
They are, and always were, false ; consequently
the superstructures built upon them, were as the
baseless fabric of a vision, transient in their exist-
ence ; passing away before the introduction of
new doctrines and hypotheses, like dew before the
morning sun. System after system has arisen,
flourished, and been forgotten, in rapid and melan-
choly succession, until the whole field is strewed
with the disjointed materials in perfect chaos ; and
amongst the rubbish, the philosophic mind may
search for ages, without being able to glean from
hardly one solitary well-established fact.'1
Dr. BENJAMIN WATERHOUSE, after lecturing in
Harvard University twenty years, retired, saying
of all he had been so long and zealously teaching,
" I am sick of learned quackery."
We have now clearly shown, by incontestible
evidence, that the science of medicine, as taught
in the schools of physic, is based on no established
principles, and therefore must be false in theory,
and destructive in practice. Can the object of
medical science be accomplished by these theo-
ries, while all admit that object to be the preven-
tion and cure of disease ?
tgj A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
CHAPTER III.
THE EFFECT OF THE REMEDIES USED BY THE MEDICAL
FACULTY.
Notwithstanding the darkness, uncertainty and
doubt in which medical science is involved — its
incapability of answering the desired object of
such a science ; if its remedial agents were inno-
cent, there would be much less occasion for a re-
form than there now is. Should we see a blind
man armed with a pistol, shooting into a group
composed of friends and enemies, should we not
suppose he would be as likely to kill his friends
as enemies ? Equally as liable is the physician,
armed with deadly poison, administered without
any certain criterion to guide him in their use, to
kill nature instead of disease, or kill more than he
cures.
The most common remedies used by the facul-
ty are, mercury in some of its forms, antimony,
opium, bleeding, and blistering.
MERCURY, or the ore which contains it, abounds
in China, Hungary, Spain, France, and South
America j and of all the metals used as a medicine,
is the most extensively used — there being scarcely
a disease against which some of its preparations
are not exhibited.
CALOMEL, a preparation of mercury, is said to be
the Sampson of the Materia Medica, and, as an-
other has expressed, has destroyed more Americans
than Sampson did of the Philistines.
Dr. POWELL, formerly professor in the Medical
College at Burlington, Vt., in a letter to Dr. Wright
of Montpelier, says, " It is to be hoped the time
is not far distant, when all deleterious poisons will
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 33
be struck from our Materia Medica. It is my
opinion, calomel or mercury has made far more
disease since it has been so universally exhibited,
than all the epidemics of the country. It is more
than ten years since I have administered a dose
of it, although I have been daily in the practice
of physic, and I am sure I have been more suc-
cessful in practice than when I made use of it.
The last dose I had in the house, I gave to some
rats, and it as radically killed them as arsenic."
Dr. Powell, having administered calomel for
many years, could not have been mistaken in re-
gard to its effects.
Dr. CHAPMAN, Professor in the University of
Pennsylvania, after speaking of the extravagant
use of calomel at the South, says, " He who for
an ordinary cause resigns the fate of his patient to
mercury, is a vile enemy to the sick ; and if he is
tolerably popular, will, in one successful season,
have paved the way for the business of life, for he
has enough to do ever afterwards, to stop the
mercurial breach of the constitutions of his dilapi-
dated patients."
Dr. GRAHAM, of the University of Glasgow,
says, " We have often had every benevolent feel-
ing of our mind called into painful exercise, upon
viewing patients, already exhausted by protracted
illness, groaning under accumulated miseries of an
active course of mercury, and by this forever de-
prived of perfect restoration ; a barbarous practice,
the inconsistency, folly and injury of which no
words can sufficiently describe."
Dr. ROBERTSON, of Cincinnati, says in his lec-
tures, " It is astonishing, and will remain an as-
tonishment to future generations, that the very
rankest poisons are the greatest remedies now in
3
24 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
use in the world, and have been for the last fifty
years past. It would be a melancholy tale, could
it be told of the millions who have perished
through this practice."
Prof. WATERHOUSE says, " When calomel is
pushed to a salivation, it delipidates, if we may so
speak, or dissolves the human fluids, all of which
are made of globules or round particles, on the
crasis of which depend the vital energy of our
bodies, and of course our health and vigor. After
the hazardous process of salivation, the physician
may, perhaps, be able to say, Now I have so far
changed the morbid state of the patient, that his
disease is conquered, and entirely overcome by the
powerful operation of the mercury. But then in
what condition does he find the sufferer ? His teeth
are loosened, his joints are weakened, his healthy
countenance is impaired, his voice is more feeble,
and he is more susceptible of cold, and a damp
state of the weather. His original disorder is, to
be sure, overcome, but it is paying a great price for
it. Secret history conceals from public notice in-
numerable victims of this sort."
Prof. BARTON, of the Medical College of Louis-
iana, says of the tomato, " I freely wish it success,
after having witnessed, for sixteen years, the hor-
rible ravages committed by calomel."
The administration of calomel, to be safe, de-
pends on circumstances beyond the knowledge
of the prescriber j therefore, he who administers a
dose of calomel, under any circumstance, strikes
a blow in the dark, the result of which will be
exhibited too late to be remedied.
In spite of the efforts of the medical faculty
to keep from the people a knowledge of the effects
of mercury upon the human system, which effects
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 25
they had heen accustomed to attribute to a chang*
in the disease ; some of their number, having too
much benevolence longer to administer the disease-
creating poison, have laid before the astonished
calomel-eater the legitimate results of its use ;
leading him to exclaim, Is it so ? that I have been
so long duped by pretended science — so long
swallowing down that which has been destroying
my constitution, leaving me as I now find myself,
but a wreck of the man I once was ! Is it so ? that
man is so depraved, or so blinded as to deal out to
his fellow-man deadly poisons, to increase his dis-
ease and suffering, when his punishment for the
transgression of the laws of nature is already
greater than he can bear ? These facts, coming to
the knowledge of the people, have led many to
reject those physicians who give calomel or mer-
cury ; physicians, therefore, find it for their interest
to deny that they use it except in extreme cases.
But if, from this moment, the use of calomel
should be entirely abandoned, the suffering that
must necessarily follow the use of what has been
already administered will be incalculable.
Dr. Cox, a member of the medical faculty of
Cincinnati, who has recently renounced the old
school practice, thus writes in a communication to
the editor of the Medical Reformer: "I could
enumerate at least fifty cases of poison and death
by CALOMEL, that occurred in the practice of physi-
cians who were practising in the region of country
where I practised for the last seven years previous
to my coming to the city, many of whom were
sent to their graves mutilated, disfigured, and par-
tially decomposed before death released them from
their sufferings." Suppose each physician of the
thousands who are practising in the United States
26 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
after the old school routine of giving calomel, were
to hand a list of the cases of death produced
by that mineral poison, that occurred within his
knowledge and region of labor, what a stupendous
and alarming amount of mortality it would make !
In view of these facts, Dr. Cox comes to the fol-
lowing conclusion, and how could an honest man
have come to a different conclusion? "Lest I
should farther give countenance to a species of
legal and wholesale murder by the use of it, I
hereby notify my friends, that from this 22d day
of November, A. D. 1844, I forthwith and forever
relinquish the use of mercury, in any of its pre-
parations, as a medical agent." He says he has
found the simple plants of nature's garden far more
safe and efficacious than mercury ; he therefore
goes for a reform in the practice of medicine, and
hopes the time is not far distant when it will be
an offence against the statute law, as well as the
moral and physical, to administer mercury as a
remedial agent. There are, no doubt, thousands
of other physicians, who are constantly prompted
by an enlightened conscience to abandon the use
of poisons, and declare to the* world that there is
mischief in them. Even so mote it be.
" The following Hymn on Calomel," says
Smith, " is to be sung on certain occasions ; as
the following : 1st. When any one or more are
convinced of its dangerous and ruinous nature,
when applied under the name of medicine, so as
never to use it. "2d. When any one has taken it
until his teeth are loose, rotten, or have come out.
3d. When it has so cankered their mouths, that
they cannot eat their food. 4th. When it has
swelled their tongues out of their mouths, so that
they could not shut their mouth for some time.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 27
6th. When it has caused blindness, and partial or
total loss of sight. 6th. When it has caused large
sores on their legs, feet, arms, or any part of the
body. 7th. When it has caused palsy, epilepsy,
cramp, or any other distressing complaint. When
cured of any or all these difficulties, this is to be
sung by all such, and as many others as may join
heartily in putting down calomel. At the close of i
the hymn let some one of the singers repeat aloud
1 — Amen.
(Tune, Old "Hundred. — Very grave.}
Physicians of the highest rank
(To pay their fees, we need a bank)
Combine all wisdom, art and skill,
Science and sense, in calomel.
Howe'er their patients may complain
Of head, or heart, or nerve, or vein,
Of fever high, or parch, or swell,
The remedy is calomel.
When Mr. A. or B. is sick —
" Go fetch the doctor, and be quick"—
The doctor comes, with much good will,
But ne'er forgets his calomel.
He takes his patient by the hand, .
And compliments him as a friend ;
He sets awhile his pulse to feel,
And then takes out his calomel.
He then turns to the patient's wife,
" Have you clean paper, spoon and knife ?
I think your husband might do well
To take a dose of calomel."
He then deals out the precious grains —
" This, ma'am, I'm sure will ease his pains ;
Once in three hours, at sound of bell,
Give him a dose of calomel."
He leaves his patient in her care,
And bids good-by with graceful air.
In hopes bad humors to expel,
She freely gives the calomel.
3*
28 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
The man grows worse, quite fast indeed —
" Go call for counsel — ride with speed" —
The counsel comes, like post with mail,
Doubling the dose of calomel.
The man in death begins to groan —
The fatal job for him is done ;
His soul is winged for heaven or hell —
A sacrifice to calomel.
Physicians of my former choice,
Receive my counsel and advice ;
Be not offended though I tell
The dire effects of calomel.
And when I must resign my breath,
Pray let me die a natural death,
And bid you all a long farewell,
Without one dose of calomel.
ANTIMONY, says Hooper, is a medicine of the
greatest power of any known substance j a quan-
tity too minute to be sensible in the most delicate
balance, is capable of producing violent effect.
Tartar emetic is a preparation of antimony, com-
monly used by the faculty as an emetic. A Mr.
Deane, of Portland, Me., was poisonepl to death a
few years since, by taking a dose of tartar emetic
through mistake j had it been administered by a
physician, his death would have been attributed
to some fatal disease. It is said that Basil Valen-
tine, a German monk, gave it to some hogs, which,
after purging them very much, fattened ; and
thinking it might produce the same effect on his
brother monks, gave them each a dose, who all
died in the experiment ; hence the word is derived
from two Greek words, meaning destructive to
monks.
OPIUM is obtained from Turkey and East India.
It is the most common article used by those who
wish to shuffle off this mortal coil, to accomplish
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 99
their object. In the form of paregoric it is used
to quiet children, and thousands have no doubt
been quieted beyond the power of being disturbed.
It does not remove the cause of disease, but relieves
pain by benumbing sensibility.
BLISTERING. — This practice, though not so fatal
as bleeding, is evidently as inconsistent and more
tormenting. In some isolated cases, blisters may
produce an apparent good effect, but the amount
of injury is so much greater than the amount of
good accruing from their use, that they may well
be dispensed with.
BLEEDING. — Blood-letting was introduced as a
frequent remedial agent, by Sydenham, in the
early part of the 16th century ; since which time
it has consigned millions to the tomb, and cut off
the fond hopes of many a tender parent, affection-
ate husband and wife, and dutiful child.
Dr. J. J. STEELE, a member of the medical
faculty of New York, says, " Bleeding in every
case, both of health and disease, according to the
amount taken, destroys the balance of circulation,
and robs the system of its most valuable treasure
and support. This balance must be restored and
this treasure replaced, before a healthful action can
be complete in the system."
Dr. REID says, " If the employment of the lan-
cet were abolished altogether, it would perhaps
save annually a greater number of lives, than in
any one year the sword has ever destroyed."
Dr. BEACH, a member of the Medical Society
of New York, says, " Among the various means
made use of to restore the sick to health, there is
none so inconsistent and absurd as blood-letting.
Those who were so unfortunate as to fall victims
to disease, were doomed to suffer the most extra-
30 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
vagant effusion of blood, and were soon hurried
to an untimely grave."
Dr. LOBSTEIN, late physician of the hospital and
army of France, reprobates, in strong terms, the
use of the lancet. He says, " During my residence
of fourteen years past, in this happy land of liberty
and independence — the United States — I am bound
to say that in all my practice as a physician of
twenty-seven years, never have I seen in any part
of Europe such extravagance of blood-letting as I
have seen in this country. It is productive of the
most serious and fatal effects — a cruel practice — a
scourge to humanity. How many thousands of
our fellow- creatures are sent by it to an untimely
grave ? How many parents are deprived of their
lovely children? How many husbands of their
wives? How many wives of their husbands?
Without blood there is no heat — no life in the
system. In the blood is the life. He who takes
blood from a patient, takes not only an organ of
life, but a part of life itself."
This testimony of Prof. Lobstein is deserving
the consideration of every individual, on account
of his high standing in the medical profession,
and his opportunity of judging from experience
and observation of the effects of blood-letting.
Dr. THATCHER, a celebrated medical author,
says, " We have no infallible index to direct us in
the use of the lancet. The state of the pulse is
often ambiguous and deceptive. A precipitate
decision is fraught with danger, AND A MISTAKE
MAY BE CERTAIN DEATH." Here is a tacit acknow-
ledgment that the most discriminating and cautious
physician cannot decide when bleeding is safe,
and he has no certain criterion by which to decide,
whether bleeding will relieve his patient — place
. A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 31
him beyond the reach of a cure, or immediately
destroy life. Well may such a science of medi-
cine be called the science of guessing.
Think of man within the short space of twenty-
four hours being deprived of eighty or ninety
ounces of blood, taking three portions of calomel,
five or six grains of tartar emetic, and blisters
applied to the extremities and the throat. Such
was the treatment of the illustrious Washington ;
of him who was first in war, first in peace, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen. To have
resisted the fatal operation of such herculean
remedies, one would imagine this venerable old
man should have retained the vigor of his earliest
youth.
Says Magendie, an eminent French rphysiolo-
gist, " I assert, then, loudly, and fear not to affirm
it, that blood-letting induces, both in the blood
itself and in our tissues certain modifications and
pathological phenomena which resemble, to a cer-
tain extent, those we have seen developed in ani-
mals deprived of atmospheric oxygen, or drink,
and of solid food. "^ ou shall have the material
proof of the fact. Here are three glasses contain-
ing blood drawn from a dog on three different
occasions, at intervals of two days. The animal
was in good health, and I took care to supply him
with abundance of nourishing food. In the first
glass you see the serum and clot are in just pro-
portions to each other. The latter, which is per-
fectly coagulated, forms about four fifths of the
entire mass. This specimen of blood, consequent-
ly, appears to possess the desirable qualities. Now
turn your attention to the second glass. The
animal was still well fed when its contents were
drawn, and yet you perceive an evident increase
32 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
in the quantity of serum. The clot forms, at the
most, only two thirds of the whole. But here is
the produce of the third venesection. Although
the animal's diet remained unchanged, we find a
still greater difference. Not only is the proportion
of serum more considerable, but its color is
changed. It has acquired a reddish yellow tinge,
owing to the commencing solution of the globular
substance."
If it was a fact, that the science of medicine
that teaches the doctrine, that the most powerful
poisons are the best medicines — that drawing from
man his heart's blood is the best way to restore
him to health when sick, is based on the immuta-
ble principles of truth, and proved itself true by
the practice, then we should be bound to admit its
principles, however inconsistent they might ap-
pear. But if tli eye is a shade of doubt resting
upon our minds, let us rather trust to the unassist-
ed and undisturbed powers of nature, than to
remedies that require the banishment of reason
from her throne, before a thinking man can con-
sistently use them. Give a sick man poison that
we have positive evidence will destroy the life of
a well man, to cure him ? Take from a feeble
man his blood, on which his little remaining
strength depends, to strengthen him? Does it
appear reasonable, or does it carry with it the evi-
dence of its truth, by immediately .curing the sick,
or strengthening the weak ?
There is not, in my opinion, and I am not alone
in that opinion, to be found, in all the superstition
and ignorance of this or any previous age, a more
complete inadaptedness of means to ends, than the
old school system of medical practice to cure
disease, As consistently might we attempt to
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 33
heat an oven with ice, put out a fire with alcohol,
or fatten a horse with grindstones or shingle nails.
It is now the wonder of the more enlightened
of the present generation, how the belief in witch-
craft could have obtained among the most learned
of the 16th century. So it will be the wonder
of future generations, that their forefathers of the
19th century should be so hoodwinked, as to
swallow down deadly poisons, be bled, blistered,
and physicked ; sacrificing their own common
sense, for the pretensions of a class of men, whose
gain depended on the ignorance of the people of
the result of their remedies.
Are there not, besides, a sufficient number of
influences brought to bear upon mankind to drag
them down to the grave ? Is not alcohol slaying
its thousands ? war its millions ? and the trans-
gression of the physical laws of nature in food,
exercise, and dress, its tens of millions? Why,
then, should Pandora's box be opened for another
outlet for human life ?
CHAPTER IV.
THE HOMOEOPATHIC SYSTEM.
As this system of practice is different in many
particulars from the allopathic or old school sys-
tem, and is gaining the attention of the American
people, it may be expected that we should give it
a passing notice.
Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, of Germany, the au-
thor of this system, was formerly a physician of
the old school, and was said to be a man of talent
34 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
and learning. Like many of his predecessors, af-
ter wandering in the shades of night for many
years in search of truth, he deplored the healing
art as altogether " uncertain and incomprehensi-
ble." He saw the danger of striking at random
with such deadly weapons as mercury, antimony,
opium & Co., and therefore labored to prove that
the ten millionth part of a grain of calomel was
better than 250 grains. This one fact he has
clearly proved, and we challenge the world to re-
fute it, that the patient who takes in finite ssimal
doses of poison will recover sooner, and be less
injured, than the patient who takes large doses.
Another fact can as easily be proved, that the pa-
tient who takes no poison does better than either.
The views entertained by Hahnemann of dis-
ease and the method of cure, are original, and re-
main yet to be proved. The distinguishing fea-
tures of his system appear to us visionary, and the
remedies inefficient, but generally harmless, though
not always. He includes in his Materia Medica
the most deadly poisons, given in such small
quantities, however, as to do little harm or good,
but sometimes increased so as to produce the most
alarming effect. Dr. Beach, of New York city,
says he was called to a distinguished dentist of
that city, (Dr. Burdell,) who was taken unwell,
and called a homoeopathic physician to attend him.
He requested him to give him no mercury ; but
contrary to his express desire, he gave him both
mercury and arsenic ; and he now states that he
has been injured, particularly by the latter. He
thinks the absorbents have taken up the poison,
and that it has settled in all his joints. They are
now swollen, stiff, and contracted j and he is una-
ble to walk. So indignant does he feel against
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 35
the practice, that he proposes to caricature it, by
exhibiting two rats, one in a healthy state, and
the other, after having passed through the ordeal
of taking ratsbane or arsenic, with the hair off.
The fundamental principle is, that in all diseases
we are to use a medicine in small doses to cure a
disease that will produce the same symptoms as
are manifested by the disease we wish to cure,
and that a medicine can be made to operate on the
particular portion of the system designed by the
prescribe!*, without effecting any other portion.
The position taken by the advocates of Hahne-
mann's system cannot be successfully defended,
there "being too many well-established facts in con-
trariety in it. But however much the old school
physicians may ridicule this system, the light of
truth now dawning upon the world will show,
that the consequences of their system (the allo-
pathic) are too serious to be ridiculed. While
Hahnemann may divert the patient with his grain
of calomel, mixed with a barrel of sugar, and a
grain of the compound divided into innnitessimal
doses, requiring him to regard the physical laws
of his nature in food, exercise, &c., allowing na-
ture all her power to contend against disease ; the
old school physician lifts his fatal club and strikes
at random, the force of which oftener comes on
the head of the only healing principle that exists
in man, termed nature, than on his enemy, dis-
ease. Much good, therefore, may result from this
system of practice, in the present benighted state
of the world on all medical subjects, by diverting
the patient while nature effects a cure. I
A large majority of the homoeopathic physicians
are seceders from the old school, and condemn in
unqualified terms the extravagant use of poisons,
4
36 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
bleeding, blistering, and physicking ; having them-
selves seen enough of their destructive effects to
arouse their better feelings, and lead them to adopt
a system more in accordance with humanity. Al-
though we differ from them in theory and prac-
tice, we cannot but respect them for the uncom-
promising stand they have taken against the per-
nicious practice in which they themselves were
'once engaged, and to remove which they have
sacrificed their standing with the medical faculty,
been cast out from their society, and are now the
objects of their ridicule. An enlightened com-
munity will do them justice, which is aU, we
presume, they ask.
CHAPTER V.
HYDROPATHY, OR THE COLD WATER CURE.
There is no individual who appreciates the
value of cold water, both as the most natural and
healthy drink for man and beast, and as a valuable
remedial agent, than we do ; but we are not pre-
pared to admit that it will accomplish every indi-
cation in the cure of disease. There are cases in
which an immediate relief cannot be obtained
•without the use of some medicine besides cold
water. We think, however, it may be success-
fully applied in a great variety of cases where
there is sufficient vitality to produce reaction ;
but much caution is necessary in its application,
or serious injury might accrue from its indiscrim-
inate use. The time is not far distant when the
virtue of pure cold water will be more generally
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 37
appreciated, and occupy an important place in the
consistent physician's Materia Medica. If it is a
fact that pure water will accomplish every indica-
tion in the cure of disease, we sincerely pray that
the time may speedily come when the fact will
be known to the world. Many, in whose judg-
ment and sincerity we have much confidence,
thus believe ; but we cannot so believe until we
have the evidence. We intend to thoroughly
investigate the subject, and shall always be gov-
erned in our theory and practice by the light we
receive.
A hospital has been recently established at
Graeffenberg, by Vincent Preissnitz, who makes
no pretensions to book learning or a knowledge
of medicine. He treats all forms of disease with
cold water alone, internally and externally, with
a success that is perfectly astonishing. It has
been stated on good- authority that out of 7600
patients, the most of whom had applied to nearly
every other source for relief, he has lost but thirty-
six.
But little is known in this country of his method
of applying this valuable remedial agent.
Mr. Henry C. Wright, of Philadelphia, a distin-
guished anti-slavery and peace-lecturer, has been
at Graeffenberg, and entirely cured of a pulmonary
disease : he writes thus to the editor of the Libe-
rator in relation to the Principal of the hospital
and the mode of cure : —
" It requires the constant exercise of a desperate
resolution to carry on the cure amid such snows and
ice. With such a temperature, to have our bodies
packed up, twice a day, in a sheet wrung out of
water, whose temperature is down to freezing —
(last evening, the sheet in which I was packed,
38 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
three minutes before I saw spread out on the snow
before my window, frozen stiff as ice) — to lie in
that wet sheet till I get warm, and then go down
into a bath-room, often full of snow and ice, arid
there throw all off, and smoking, plunge into that
dreadful bath, and stay in it one or two minutes —
then to be rubbed dry, and have a long wet ban-
dage tied around the whole body — then dress, and
go out and face these fierce, howling tempests,
the snow all blowing into your eyes, ears, hair,
neck, and bosom ; and then to have to sit down
in cold water, and there sit fifteen minutes at a
time — sure, such a fearful process must kill or cure.
Strange to say, not one here seems to have the
least fear of the former. It kills no one — it invi-
gorates and strengthens all, and produces a pretty
thorough indignation in each at himself, that he
should ever have subjected his body to the heal-
ing process generally pursued by the medical fac-
ulty. I am certain that the process — though so
fearful that I almost catch my breath and shiver
all over to think of it — has done me great good.
"Four days ago, a woman who had taken cold
during the day, and was not aware of the enemy
lurking in her, was seized in the night with a most
violent fever. I saw her in the morning, and she
looked exactly like a person in scarlet fever. A
wet sheet was at once wrapped about her whole
body, and changed and wet again eveiy twenty
or thirty minutes. This was pursued about twenty
hours, and water was applied in other ways. The
next day, I saw her up and dressed, and looking
as well and eating as hearty as usual. Not a par-
ticle of medicine was administered. I do not
believe that out of the three hundred patients
now here, or out of several thousands that have
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 39
been here, there is one who has the least fear of
fevers or colds. Each seems to feel that, so far as
fevers and colds are concerned, a certain remedy is
always at hand. I do think it is the duty of all
who have young children, to learn to apply this
remedy. How many diseases in little children
originate in cold !
" Vincent Preissnitz is certainly an extraordinary
man — has a countenance on which one loves to
look — a man of unpretending simplicity, of quiet
look and demeanor, but of dauntless resolution
and unyielding firmness. If a patient puts himself
under his control, and he assumes the responsibili-
ty of the case, the patient must conform. He is
a man of very limited l&ok learning — pretends to
none, has none — says but little to his patients —
has no theory at all — and would be probably inca-
pable of giving a written account of his system.
Cold air and cold water are the only remedies with
which he attempts to combat disease, and he does
not pretend that he can cure all diseases with
these. But he makes his patients work for health.
We can't sit down in an easy chair, or stretch out
on a soft sofa, in a warm room, with a warm
wrapper gown on, and take little nice things, and
be petted and comforted, and all that ! No — we
have to work, work, work — no rest day or night
— have but little heat, and no comforts at all,
(comfort is unknown here, in any thing.) Our
food is plentiful, but of the coarsest kind — no tea,
no coffee, no condiments but salt — milk and cold
water for drink ; dry, stale rye bread, butter, boiled
beef, soup, &c., for food. To cut our rye bread
is a labor of no small magnitude, and each must
cut for himself ; and to see barons, counts, princes,
cavaliers, priests, generals, doctors, and what
4*
40 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
not, all mixed up together, cutting and gnawing
away at this coarse food, like hungry Avolves — you
would suppose that the genius of famine had come
forth from the desert of Sahara, and was at our
table."
: CHAPTER VI.
THE THOMSONIAN SYSTEM.
This system of medical practice, unlike most
other systems, is the result of experience. Facts
were first established, and then a theory based on
such facts. Without facts it is as impossible to
establish a correct theory as to commence building
a chimney at the top. There would be no diffi-
culty if the first brick could be made to stick. So
in medical science. Establish one important fact,
and you have a foundation on which you may
build with safety.
Dr. Thomson, the author of the system that
bears his name, was altogether unacquainted with
the prevailing theories of medicine. His mind
was therefore untrammeled. If, as Dr. Rush has
said, those physicians become most eminent who
soonest emancipate themselves from the tyranny
of the schools of physic ; was it good reason why
Dr. Thomson could not be a reformer, because
he had never been enslaved by these theories ? He
took reason and common sense for his guide, and
established every principle by long experience. It
was the inefficiency of the regular practice that in-
duced him to turn his attention to the subject of
medicine. His children were attacked by disease,
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 41
a regular physician was called, exhausted his skill,
and abandoned them to the cold embrace of death.
At this critical period, Dr. Thomson resolved to
call into exercise his own judgment in the use of
such remedies as he had become acquainted with
in his earlier days. Necessity is the mother of
invention. He applied these remedies, and suc-
ceeded beyond his most sanguine expectations.
All of them recovered under his treatment, besides
his companion who was given up by five phy-
sicians.
In this simple manner originated a system of
medical practice, based on the immutable princi-
ples of truth, that has saved thousands of suffering
human beings from the jaws of death, who had
been abandoned by the medical faculty to die. It
soon became a topic of conversation, in the region
around, that Mr. Thomson, an illiterate farmer,
had cured five of his family after the doctors had
given them up to die. Soon he was called to ad-
minister to his neighbors after all other remedies
failed, and such universal success attended his
practice, that his name and unexampled success
were soon known abroad : and so numerous were
his calls to attend the sick, that he was under the
necessity of relinquishing his farm and devoting
himself exclusively to the practice of medicine.
We now find the illiterate farmer a doctor — a
graduate of the school of nature, with almost uni-
versal success for his diploma.
Little did he think, when he yielded to the
pressing requests of the suffering and dying to
administer to their relief, that he should call down
upon his head the curses and denunciations of the
whole medical faculty, whose craft they now saw
to be in danger. But he soon fully realized that
42 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
the sentiment of the celebrated Dr. Harvey was
true — " that he who attempts a reform in medi-
cine, runs the risk of the sacrifice of his life,
reputation, and estate." Such was his success in
euring the incurables of the faculty, that their in-
dignation was aroused against him, and poured on
his devoted head without mercy. Every means
within their power were used to destroy him and
his followers. If one in a thousand of his patients
died, although they might have been incurable
when he commenced upon them, he was charged
with murder, and in one instance was prosecuted
and put into prison. Notwithstanding the deep-
rooted prejudice, and time-honored usages of the
people, and the hellish animosity and unprecedent-
ed persecution of a profession whose influence was
almost omnipotent, Thomsonism has flourished
and progressed until its remedial agents have found
admittance into nearly every hamlet and mansion
in the United States.
CHAPTER VII.
THE TESTIMONY OP OLD SCHOOL PHYSICIANS IN ITS
FAVOR.
Notwithstanding the medical faculty as a body
violently persecuted Dr. Thomson, and ridiculed
his system of practice, some of the most candid
and humane had the magnanimity to express their
conviction that his system was far more philo-
sophical than their own. i
Among the first and most unwavering of the
friends of Dr. Thomson, was Prof. Waterhouse,
of Harvard University. He says in a letter to
A GUIDE; TO HEALTH. 43
the editor of the Boston Courier, " I remain firm
in the opinion that the system and practice of Dr.
Thomson is superior to any now extant ; for by
his remedies, as much can be accomplished in three
or four days, as can be done by the regular system
in as many weeks, and that too without injuring
the patient."
Dr. THOMAS HERSEY, too, of Columbus, Ohio,
an eminent physician and surgeon, who was sur-
geon in the United States army during the last
war ; after thoroughly investigating Dr. Thomson's
system, publicly renounced a system he had prac-
tised forty years, and adopted the more philo-
sophical system of Thomson. He says, " More
than forty years of life have been devoted to the
ancient or regular practice. Ten years have been
spent in ascertaining the claims of the Thomsoni-
an system. A partial learning was the first step,
and the result was a mixed practice, which I found
could not succeed. I found I must be a Thom-
sonian altogether, or abandon the cause. The
result has been, that thus resolutely pursuing this
course, I became astonished at its success. This
outri vailed any thing with which I had ever been
acquainted in private practice, or in my former
official capacity as surgeon in the United States
army, or any public or private station I had ever
been called to fill." He says also in a letter to
Dr. John Thomson, " My practice has been ex-
tensive— my experience and opportunity for obser-
vation has seldom been exceeded ; but I venture to
pledge myself upon all I hold sacred in the pro-
fession, that in my estimation the discoveries made
by your honored father have a decided prefer-
ence, and stand unrivalled by all that bears the
stamp of ancient or modern skill."
44 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
Dr. SAMUEL ROBERTSON, of Cincinnati, Ohio,
who pursued his studies in England, and after-
wards under the celebrated Dr. Rush, of Philadel-
phia, says, " I have renounced the depleting and
poisoning system altogether ; and hereafter, from
this day, my life shall be spent in diffusing a
knowledge of the superiority of the Thomsonian
system, however much I may be abused by my
former brethren."
Dr. W. K. GRIFFIN, of Clinton, N. Y., also em-
braced this system. He says, "After having
attended three courses of lectures at the college
of physicians and surgeons at Fairfield, and ob-
tained the degree of Doctor of Medicine, I com-
menced using calomel, opium, and the like, with
the most unshaken confidence. Frequent failures
I was wont to attribute to the inveteracy of the
disease. But experience soon taught me a differ-
ent lesson. I had frequent occasions to notice,
that when circumstances prevented the adminis-
tration of the popular remedies, nature performed
a cure much sooner, and left the patient in a more
favorable condition, than in cases where the scien-
tific medical books were followed. I communi-
(cated this discovery to my confidential friends in
the profession, and found to my no small surprise,
that many of them were equally conscious of the
fact. ' But,' said they, { the people love to be de-
ceived, and in this respect it promotes our interest
to accommodate them. They call on us to pre-
scribe, and by crying down our own medicines,
;we should at once throw ourselves out of busi-
ness.7
\ " Though I had always possessed the strongest
prejudice against that class of men vulgarly called
jsteam doctors, yet testimony in their favor had at
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 40
length become so abundant, that I was forced to
relinquish in some measure my preconceived opin-
ions, so far at least as to give their system a fair
investigation. When I entered upon the Thom-
sonian practice, I was convinced that it possessed
rare virtues, yet it was natural for me to suppose
that those virtues had been much exaggerated by
the friends of the system. But in this respect I
was happily disappointed, for I discovered, as my
practical knowledge of the system increased, that
half its virtues had not been told."
STEPHEN DEAN, M. D., of Hamburgh, N. Y.,
who was seventeen years a " regular," in giving
his reasons for renouncing the old system and
embracing Thomson's, says, "I tried the same
remedies upon myself that I used upon my pa-
tients, and they nearly ruined me, and I accord-
ingly threw away my lance, and all my poisonous
drugs, and adopted the safe, simple and efficacious
system of Dr. Thomson."
Dr. THOMAS EVELEIGH, M. D., of Charleston,
S. C., in a letter to the editor of the Thomsonian
Recorder, says, "The theory of disease upon which
is based the Thomsonian system of practice, I
consider as approaching nearer the truth than any
other theory with which I am acquainted ; and so
perfectly satisfied am I of this fact, that I have
abandoned the old practice altogether, and have
adopted Thomson's in preference ; and every day's
experience tends to confirm me in the opinion I
first formed, that the system is based on the im-
mutable principles of truth, and wants nothing
but faithful and intelligent practitioners, to evince
to the world its superiority over every other sys-
tem, I am persuaded that as soon as the public
46 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
mind becomes enlightened upon the subject, it
must and will supersede every other practice."
We could fill this volume with the encomiums
of those who have practised many years on the old
school system, who have renounced the same, and
become thorough-going Thomsonians ; but enough
have already been introduced, to show that the
advocates of Thomsonism are not all an illiterate,
ignorant class of men. About three hundred more
might be added, whose testimony would be in ac-
cordance with those whose names we have insert-
ed, who have spent the usual time in studying the
works of the faculty, attended medical lectures,
and practised many years, poisoning people well.
After a thorough and candid examination of the
Thomsonian system, with all their prepossessions
against it, and a trial of its remedial agents, in all
the different forms of disease, they were compelled,
by the force of evidence, to abandon their poison-
ing system, and adopt one more in accordance
with nature, reason, and common sense. Thou-
sands of others have adopted a mixed practice to
secure the patronage of all parties.
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
HEALTH.
Health — the poor man's riches, and the rich man's bliss.
A STATE of health consists in the power of all
the different organs to perform, in an easy and
regular manner, all their proper offices. This state,
on which our happiness so much depends, is the
legitimate result of a correct mode of living. The
man, woman, or child, who daily transgresses the
physical laws of their nature, can no more expect
to be healthy, than they can expect to breathe
without air or live under water.
Ask the man who has not been free from pain
a single day for a series of years, what he consid-
ers the greatest earthly blessing, and he will tell
you, health. When deprived of this, all nature
wears a gloomy aspect. The glistening sun-
beams, the opening flowers, the green-clad trees,
the rippling streams, or the soul-cheering notes of
the feathered songsters, have for him no charms.
The aching head, the hacking cough, and the
hectic flush, admonish him, that soon he must
close his eyes on all things earthly. Then it is he
looks back with sorrow and deep remorse on a life
spent in constant violation of the laws of nature,
the result of which is always to produce misery
5
4S A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
and disease in proportion to the extent of those
violations.
Thousands there are, who are this moment roll-
ing in wealth, who would give a quit-claim deed
of all creation, and place themselves in the condi-
tion of the man who depends on his daily labor for
his daily bread, if they could enjoy perfect health.
If health be thus valuable, that the miser will
pour out his gold, the epicure give up his sump-
tuous fare, and the young lady bid defiance to the
life-destroying fashions of the age, that they may
obtain it when lost, is it not worth preserving ?
How then can we preserve our health ? Here
is a question of more importance than any other
of the great questions that are now agitating the
world. Any question or enterprise, having for its
object the accumulation or preservation of wealth,
would weigh as little in comparison with this, as
the bubble in the opposite scale with the moun-
tain. It may be argued that health is a blessing
conferred upon us by Divine Providence, and He
continues or destroys it according to his own plea-
sure, without any agency of our own. This doc-
trine has prevailed to an alarming extent, and has
been sanctioned by those who profess to know
more about the mysterious dealings of Providence
than they do the physiological laws of our nature.
Is it not the height of injustice to charge upon
Him, whose " tender mercies are over all the works
of his hands, " our own folly ? He, in infinite
wisdom and goodness, has established certain un-
changeable laws, by which all matter, animate and
inanimate, is governed. Obedience to these laws
secures to us health and all its blessings, with as
much certainty as obedience to moral laws secures
peace of mind.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 49
In order therefore to preserve health, a proper
regard must be had to food, drink, clothing, exer-
cise, air, and bathing.
FOOD AND DRINK. — On no one thing does per-
fect health so much depend, as on the quantity,
quality, and proper mastication of food ; notwith-
standing which, a majority of mankind swallow
down, half chewed, and in large quantities, a he-
terogeneous mass of beef, pork, butter, cheese,
mince pies, cakes, &c., regardless of consequences
or the object of eating and drinking. So long as
we thus transgress nature's laws, so long we must
suffer the consequences ; which are pain, debility,
and untimely death, in spite of physicians, regu-
lar or irregular, homoeopathic, hydropathic, or
Thomsonian even. Such is the difference in the
habits and constitution of man, that no universal
system of diet can be prescribed, adapted to the
circumstances of all j but a few simple rules should
always be observed. Eat, three times a day onlyt
a moderate quantity of such food as is the most
easily digested, which should be well chewed or
mixed with the saliva before it is swallowed.
The best food is coarse wheat bread, potatoes, rice,
ripe fruit, rye pudding, peas, beans, &c., and the
best drink is pure cold water ; avoiding tea, cof-
fee, fat meat, butter, cheese, &c. The real object
of eating should be kept in view, viz. to supply
the system with a proper amount of nutriment,
varying according to the amount of active exercise
taken, and the power of the digestive apparatus,
and not to gratify a depraved appetite. Every
man and woman should become acquainted with
the physiological laws of their nature, so as to eat
and drink and provide for their children in accord-
ance therewith.
50 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
CLOTHING. — The principal object 'of clothing is
to protect the body from cold and inclement wea-
ther, and therefore should be adapted to the cli-
mate, season of the year, age, &c. The practice
of dressing children very warm, serves to enfeeble
and relax the system, rendering them subject to
colds and all their attendant evils. They should
be accustomed to wear but little clothing when in
doors, and that perfectly loose about them. It
will be observed that those children who, from
necessity, are poorly clad and coarsely fed, are
usually more robust than those who are warmly
clad, and are pampered with all the nice things a
fond mother can obtain ; the good intentions of
whom do not prevent the suffering she is unavoid-
ably bringing upon herself and offspring. This
consideration only should be kept in view in dress,
regardless of fashion, that is, its adaptedness to
the convenience and comfort of the wearer, and
the season of the year. Too much cannot be said
against compressing the chest, as is the custom of
many females, who have thereby sacrificed them-
selves to the goddess fashion, and we fear many
more must be sacrificed at the same shrine before
the practice will be abandoned. Tight bandages
about the neck, or any part of the system, should
be avoided, as they obstruct the free circulation
of blood.
If a man would live in accordance with his
nature, take proper exercise in the open air, and
thereby produce a free circulation of blood, but
little clothing would be required ; but as he is
enfeebled by disease, Avant of exercise, &c., he
must keep himself warm by flannels, stoves, and
stimulating meats and drinks, until exhausted na-
ture gives up the struggle to sustain its requisite
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 5J
quantity of heat, which suddenly sinks to the tem-
perature of the ground six feet from the surface.
The real object of clothing seems, at the present
day, to be almost entirely overlooked ; fashion,
.instead of convenience and comfort, must be con-
sulted. How many render themselves miserable
because they have not the means of following
every foolish fashion that is introduced ! while
others toil incessantly, giving themselves no op-
portunity for the improvement of the mind or
innocent amusement, destroying their health and
happiness to obtain the means of rendering them-
selves ridiculous in the eyes of the really wise.
But so the world goes, and so it must continue to
go, until dress and shape become so ridiculous and
fantastical as to be a laughing-stock for each other.
Says the celebrated Cobbett on this subject, " Let
our dress be as cheap as may be without shabbi-
ness ; attend more to the color of your shirt than
to the gloss and texture of your coat ; be always
clean as your situation will, without inconveni-
ence, permit ; but never, no, not for one moment,
believe that any human being, with sense in his
skull, will love or respect you on account of your
fine, costly clothes."
The man or woman, who has independence
enough to dare dress consistently and decently, in
defiance of a foolish and pernicious fashion, if
holding a rank in society that gives them influ-
ence, will do much for the benefit of his or her
race. Ye professed followers of the despised Na-
zarene, shall we not look to you for the example ?
or must Christianity itself yield to fashion, and its
professors vie with each other in obtaining the
most gaudy and costly apparel ?
EXERCISE. — It is a law of our nature that a cer-
5*
52 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
tain amount of active exercise in the open air
must be taken every day in order to be perfectly
healthy ; and it is supposed that the amount ne-
cessary to procure all the food, clothing, &c., for
the whole, together with what would be naturally
taken in amusement and walks of pleasure, if di-
vided equally among those who were competent
to labor, would be the proper amount of exercise
for each ; but in the present arrangement of soci-
ety, the few must labor incessantly in active em-
ployment, exhausting the powers of nature, and
leaving the moral and intellectual powers unculti-
vated ; while the many are engaged entirely in
sedentary employments, or no employment, ex-
cept to consume what the hard labor of the few
produces. Both classes transgress the laws of na-
ture— the one, in not exercising enough; the
other, in exercising too much. The facilities for
locomotion are such at the present time, and the
disposition of man to avail himself of them so
general, that nearly all action of the lower extre-
mities will be suspended by those who have the
means of paying the expense of being trucked or
cabbed to the cars, and by the cars to their desired
town or city, and then trucked or cabbed again
to the residence of a friend or the traveller's home.
The result of which is invariably, coldness of the
extremities, costiveness, head-ache, indigestion,
lowness of spirits, weakness ; then come Indian
purgative pills, calomel, blue pills, steam and lobe-
lia, a visit to the springs, a miserable existence,
and premature death. This is no picture of the
imagination, but a fac simile of what is daily
transpiring around us, and he whose eyes are open
cannot help seeing it'. But we do not expect to
turn the tide that is thus carrying so many on the
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 53
bosom of its waters to the grave. But the law
and its penalties cannot be evaded by its violators.
Walking is probably the most healthy exercise ;
riding on horseback, sawing wood, digging the
soil, are also excellent modes of exercise. Those
who cannot exercise in the open air in conse-
quence of ill-health or the inclemency of the
weather, should engage in such exercise as they
can bear within doors; and if not able to take
active exercise, make use of the flesh-brush or a
coarse towel two or three times a day.
AIR. — But few are aware of the importance of
inhaling pure air, or duly consider the consequences
of inhaling that which is impure. A fruitful cause
of pulmonary complaints, colds, coughs, &c.,
at the present time, is the practice of heating
rooms with stoves, which destroy, to a certain ex-
tent, the oxygen, and leave the air unfit for respi-
ration ; and if the rooms were kept perfectly tight,
the air would soon be rendered incapable of sus-
taining life. Our forefathers, by living in houses
well ventilated, and being almost constantly in the
open air, and sleeping in apartments where the
pure air of heaven was permitted to circulate free-
ly, were robust and healthy ; while their posterity
are so enfeebled by the pernicious customs of the
age, as to be under the necessity of wrapping up
head, ears and mouth, when they go out, lest they
should take cold, and by this very means predis-
pose the system to take cold. ; |
BATHING. — Ablution, or bathing the surface once
a day in cold water, is a very important means of
preserving health. It invigorates and strengthens
the system, cleanses the surface, and renders a per-
son less liable to take cold. It should be done in
the morning on rising from bed. Take a bowl of
54 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
water, and with the hand bathe the whole surface,
and rub briskly with a coarse towel. Those who
are feeble can use the tepid weak lye-water, fol-
lowed by brisk friction. We shall treat of baths
as remedial agents in another part of this work.
• Let those who consider health of more import-
ance than the gratification of a depraved appetite,
or conformity to foolish and destructive fashions,
seek them a healthy location in the country, if
they are not already thus situated ; eat the fruits
of the field and garden alone ; dress consistently,
with reference to comfort rather than fashion ;
construct houses so as to be well ventilated ; throw
aside feather beds, air-tight stoves, tea and coffee,
beef, pork, butter, &c., take four hours active ex-
ercise in the open air every day when the weather
will permit, and bathe the surface in cold water
every day ; and above all, keep a conscience void
of offence : and with as much certainty as the
earth revolves round the sun, or water inclines to
run down hill, will they enjoy health, peace, and
competence. But those who are determined to
follow the foolish customs of the age ; live in in-
dolence or in constant toil, breathe the contami-
nated air of cities and large villages ; eat hogs and
sheep, rich pies and cakes, and live in constant
violation of the laws of nature, must suffer the
consequences — pain, suffering, anxiety, parting
with loved children, constant sickness, &c. When
will mankind be wise, and observe the laws of
their nature, and thereby avoid the suffering that
inevitably follows their transgression ? In conse-
quence of the unnatural state in which man lives,
his body is constantly diseased, requiring the aid
of medicine to assist nature in her efforts to regain
lost energy. To supply this demand, physicians
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. ,55
and secret medicine-manufacturers, as thick as the
frogs of Egypt, have sprung up in every town and
city, many of whose remedies are as well adapt-
ed to cure disease as a hand-saw would be for
shaving, and the aggregate of whom, undoubtedly,
increase vastly the amount of disease and suffer-
ing.
The following remarks on the promotion of
health and longevity are from the pen of the cele-
brated Dr. COURTNEY, surgeon, R. N., of Rams-
gate, England: —
"The human frame is so constituted that it
may, by wise training, not only be brought to
bear with impunity every vicissitude of climate,
but even be strengthened and hardened thereby.
The stomach — the great store-house of the body,
and without the integrity of whose functions life
itself is but a burden — can be rendered capable of
digesting any kind of food, and our bodies of per-
forming almost any amount of labor, so long as we
observe the rules which experience, physiology,
reason and common sense dictate. Of these rules,
the most important, perhaps, are the following : —
moderation in eating and drinking, great personal
cleanliness, early rising, fearless and daily frequent
exposure to the weather in all its vicissitudes,
and total abstinence from intoxicating liquors.
Persons who would enjoy health and length of
days must give up the effeminate and luxurious
habits now so fashionable ; and must not live in
rooms defended from the breath of heaven, by
means of closely-fitting doors and windows, and
heated by enormous fires to a temperature that
must relax and enervate — rendering them living
barometers, or like so many hot-house plants, to
whom every change is blight or death. The so-
£fl A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
called " comforts" of life are the very bane of
health. Lounging on sofas and in carriages, late
hours, soft beds, lying in bed till nine or ten in
the morning — these, and the like luxurious habits,
combined with the sedentary amusements of card-
playing, novel -reading, &c.; are of themselves
sufficient to dilapidate the strongest constitution.
11 The more exercise any person takes, the
larger is the quantity of oxygen he inhales, and
the warmer he becomes ; consequently the person
who takes but little exercise, inhaling little oxy-
gen, loses in a great measure its warming, vivify-
ing, and strengthening agency. When there is a
deficiency of oxygen in the system, the black
blood from the veins is but imperfectly changed
by the air in the lungs, and a blood unfit for the
purposes of life flows through the body ; the con-
sequence of which is — must be, a falling off in
the health, to a greater or less extent. Hence
arise those very prevalent affections — chilliness,
languor, low spirits, head-aches of different kinds,
faintness, palpitations, stupor, apoplexy, &c.
> "It has been imagined by persons ignorant of the
mechanism and physiology of the human frame,
that females cannot bear much exercise or ex-
posure to atmospherical vicissitudes, and that
passive exercise is more suited to their constitu-
tions. This is a mistake altogether — an error
which has caused the loss of health in thousands
of instances. Constant and daily exercise in the
open air, early rising, a daily ablution of the body
with cold water, and the avoidance of over-heated
and badly-ventilated rooms, are essentials in the
code of health, which can no more be dispensed
with by the female than the male. Indeed, when
we take into consideration the many causes that
A GUJDE TO HEALTH. 57
tend to weaken and impair the health of the
female, which do not at all interfere with man, the
necessity of the avoidance of enervating habits is
even more requisite on the part of the weaker sex.
To both sexes we would say, avoid easy chairs,
and cushioned sofas and carriages, and sleep not
on beds of down, but on hard mattresses, and keep
not on these beyond the time that nature requires
for repose. Let the pure breath of heaven gain
free admission to your apartments, but especially
to your sleeping apartments : and if you would
not, as you ought not, respire over and over again
the same corrupted air, do not stop its free circula-
tion by surrounding your bed with curtains. Our
fashionable habits are " the silken fetters of deli-
cious ease," which entail spleen, melancholy, &c.,
on so many of the fair sex, and too many of
whom contrast, alas ! too forcibly, with Gay's
^ivid but correct description of a country girl : —
" She never felt the spleen's imagined pains,
Nor melancholy stagnates in her veins ;
She never loses life in thoughtless ease,
Nor on the velvet couch invites disease."
" It is more essential to have our bed-rooms well
ventilated than our drawing-rooms, because we
pass more time in them ; and when we consider
that the oxygen (oxygen is the great supporter of
life and heat) contained in a gallon of air is con-
sumed by one person in a minute, and that a
lighted candle consumes about the same quantity
in the same time, it must be evident to all that
thorough ventilation is essential to health — that
perfect health, in fact, cannot be maintained with-
out it ; and that lights in our bed-rooms, when a
frequent renewal of the air in them cannot be
maintained, are exceedingly pernicious. Accord-
58 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
ing to Dr. Arbuthnot's calculation, three thousand
human beings, within the compass of an acre of
ground, would make an atmosphere of their own
steam, about seventy-one feet high ; which, if not
carried away by winds, would become pestiferous
in a moment. It should be remembered that the
same air cannot enter the lungs more than four
times without carrying with it properties inimical
to the principles of life. A moment's considera-
tion of the state in which the air must be, that is
confined all night within bed-curtains, and is
respired innumerable times, will explain how it
is that many persons rise in the morning with pale
faces, bad taste in the mouth, want of appetite,
&c.; symptoms, however, which often arise from
other causes, and especially from the use of intoxi-
cating liquors. 'Being buried every night in
feathers,' says the celebrated Locke, 'melts and
dissolves the body, is often the cause of weak-
ness, and is the forerunner of an early grave.' }:
The following remarks on health are from the
pen of O. S. Fowler, who combines in his writ-
ings sound reason and a firm and fearless advocacy
of unpopular truths. He attacks the inconsisten-
cies and physiological errors of the age with the
spirit of a Luther.
" The plain inference drawn from this principle/
that the principal temperaments and functions of
our nature require to be equally balanced, is that
mankind should exercise his muscular system by
labor, or being on foot in the open air, about one
third of the time ; should eat and sleep, (that is,
lay in his re-supply of animal life,) about one
third of the time ; and exercise his brain in think-
ing, studying, &c., about the other third of his
time — each day." * * *
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 59
"I fully concur with Jefferson's opinion that
mankind have probably lost more by subduing the
horse, than they have gained by his labor. Riding
in carriages is so easy, so luxurious, to the dainty
belle, that all classes are, as it were, horse crazy,
and by shifting all their burdens, and most of their
locomotion, upon the horse, they stand in the light
of their own muscular action, which bids fair
soon to be obliged to employ horse-power, (or
perhaps steam-power,) with which to breathe and
eat." *****
" Let us open our eyes upon what we see daily
and continually in our city. See that young
merchant, or lawyer, or clerk, or broker, whose
business shuts him up all day in his store, or at
his desk, till his circulation, digestion, cerebral
action, and all the powers of life are enfeebled,
walk merely from his door on to the side-walk,
possibly one or two blocks, and wait for an omni-
bus, to carry him a few blocks farther to his meals
or bed ! One would think that, starved almost to
death as he is for want of exercise, he would em-
brace every opportunity to take exercise, instead
of which, he embraces every opportunity to avoid
it. As well avoid living, which indeed it is. And
then too, see that delicate, fashionable lady, so
very prim, nice, refined, delicate, and all this be-
sides much more, that she does not get out of
doors once a week, order her carriage just to take
her and her pale-faced, sickly child to church on
Sunday, because it is two or three blocks off — too
far for them to walk." * * *
• " And what shall we say of those who sit and
sew all day. or work at any of the confining
branches of industry that preclude the exercise
except of a few muscles, and perhaps keep them-
6
60 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
selves bent over forward on to their stomachs,
lungs, heart, bowels, and over eat at that ! Oh !
when will man learn to live — learn by what con-
stitutional laws he is governed, and how to obey
these laws ? When Physiology and Phrenology
are studied ; never till then.
" Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time,
And bring that welcome day." — WATTS.
CHAPTER II.
DISEASE.
Medical theorists have arranged diseases into
different orders, classes, and kinds, according to
their symptoms, giving to each a different name,
and recommending for each a different mode of
treatment. This course has involved the practice
of medicine in darkness, perplexity, and doubt.
No physician can decide for a certainty, what or-
gan is primarily affected, or what name to give the
disease. He must therefore do nothing until the
symptoms are so far developed as to enable him
to give it a name, or lift his club and strike at
random.
Said Dr. Abercrombie, a distinguished physi-
cian, " I am under the necessity of acknowledging,
that since medicine was first cultivated as a
science, a leading object of attention has ever been
to ascertain the characters and symptoms by
which particular internal diseases are indicated,
and by which they are distinguished from other
diseases, which resemble them. But, with the
accumulated experience of ages bearing upon this
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 61
important subject, our extended observation has
only served to convince us how deficient we are
in this department, and how often, in the first step
of our progress, we are left to conjecture. A writer
of high eminence, Morgagni, has even hazarded
the assertion that persons are the most confident
in regard to the characters of disease, whose
knowledge is most limited, and that more extend-
ed observation generally leads to doubt."
Disease is nothing more nor less than a devia-
tion from a state of health, consisting in, or de-
pending on, an obstruction or diminution of the
vital energies ; exhibiting different symptoms ac-
cording to the extent of the deviation, the import-
ance of the organ affected, or peculiar state of the
person coming under influences capable of pro-
ducing a state of disease.
He who does not enjoy perfect health is more
or less under the influence of disease ; the cause
of which being continued, disease progresses,
acting on different organs, deranging different
functions, and exhibiting new symptoms, until the
powers of nature yield, and death is the result. !
A disease is either general or local, functional
or organic. It is general, when the whole system
is affected ; and local, when it is confined to a
particular part. A disease is functional, when an
organ is laboring under some derangement j and
organic, when there is an alteration in the struc-
ture of the organ.
0Q A GUIDE TO HEALTH,
CHAPTER III.
THE UNITY OF DISEASE.
The doctrine of the unity of disease, as advo-
cated by ThomsonianSj has not generally been
understood, and therefore the medical faculty have
endeavored to bring the Thomsonian system into
disrepute by ridiculing it. We do not say every
form of disease is characterized by the same symp-
toms, or is located primarily or principally on the
same organ ; but that for the purpose of applying
medicine safely and scientifically, a division of
disease into classes, orders, and kinds, is not neces-
sary, neither is it possible. When we transgress
the laws of nature by constantly overloading the
stomach, the effect is general, every organ is more
or less deranged and debilitated, consequently not
capable of performing its functions. To what
organ then, should medicine be applied to remove
the cause and effect of disease ? Would not the
only rational course be to remove the first cause
by taking food in a proper quantity and quality,
and then, by general stimulants and relaxants,
arouse the different organs to action to throw off
the morbid accumulations, and thereby relieve
nature by removing the obstructions to her free
operations ? Let the form of disease or symptoms
be what they may, the only business of the physi-
cian is to remove the obstructions to nature's
efforts, and assist her in her operations. We may
as consistently divide hunger into a thousand dif-
ferent kinds, and prescribe one particular article
of food to nourish one portion of the system, and
another article to nourish another part, as to pre-
scribe a medicine to remove disease from a
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 63
particular portion of the system, without having
its natural effect on the whole system. An ex-
perience of fifty years by millions of patients
afflicted with every conceivable form of disease,
has sufficiently tested and established the fact, that
a Thomsonian course of medicine, judiciously ad-
ministered, is adapted to the cure of every form'
of disease, that is curable ; although in many cases
it may not be necessary to resort to it, as some-
thing more mild and pleasant in its operation will
frequently accomplish the object in the early stage
of disease ; neither is it necessary to administer it
when the powers of nature are so far exhausted as
to render a recovery impossible. On this one fact:
does the safety of the Thomsonian system depend
in the hands of the people — that disease, wherever,
located in the human system, whatever its form
or the symptoms by which it is characterized, mayj
be successfully treated on general principles, with
remedies operating in harmony with the laws of I
nature. So that the mother may administer to
her child, the husband to the wife, and the wife
to the husband, with the most unshaken confi-[
dence j and thereby avoiding the quackery for;
which the present age will ever be memorable
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAUSES OP DISEASE.
We stated in the first chapter that health was!
secured by obeying the physical laws of our na-<
ture ; and in the second chapter, that disease was1
a deviation from a state of health, or an obstruction1
6*
54 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
or diminution of vital energy. The cause of
disease must therefore be a transgression or viola-
tion of the laws of our nature. This violation
may be voluntary on our part, with or without a
knowledge of the consequences ; it may be pro-
duced by circumstances beyond our control, as
when we come in contact, inhale or take into our
stomachs poisonous substances or gases, or it may
be, according to the proverb, "the fathers [or
mothers] have eaten sour grapes and the children's
teeth are set on edge," or hereditary disease, de-
pending on the transgressions of our forefathers.
A fruitful cause of disease is the pernicious
fashions of the age. While reason and experience
would lead us to obey the laws of our nature,
fashion says, Follow me — I will lead you into
the paths of pleasure : My laws require no self-
denial ; — eat, drink, sleep, dress, just as the fancy
of my directors may dictate, which you will find
pleasing to the eye and gratifying to the taste,
after you have become accustomed to their use* —
Disease you need not fear, as my friends, the
medical faculty, are always ready to administer to
you relief; and although they may give you
poisons, calculated to produce incurable disease,
you should submit patiently, and kiss the rod that
inflicts the fatal blow. — Who would not rather
live fashionable, though it produces constant head-
ache, debility, nervous disease, palsy, consump-
tion, rheumatism, gout, &c., and employ fashiona-
ble physicians, and take fashionable medicines,
though death was the result, than to be called a
Orahamite or a Thomsonian ?
To be sure, says fashion, the pleasures I offer
you are but for a season, but who would not rather
to respected by the rich, and flattered by all,
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 35
though it lead to sorrow and death, than to live
consistently and die in obscurity ?
It is so refined to enjoy a social glass of wine,
so beautiful to appear at church with waists of the
size of a broom-handle, net-work stockings and
slippers in the month of March — so delicious to
eat hogs and sheep swimming in grease, rich
cakes and pies, bread well buttered and washed
down with strong tea and coffee — so gentleman
and lady-like to lie in bed till nine o'clock, ride
out at eleven, dine at three, and eat a hearty sup-
per at ten — so exquisitely beautiful to appear
abroad in curls and ruffles, cane and spectacles,
with feet and waists compressed into fashionable
shape, with delicate hands and unbrowned face, it
is evidence that one does not have to labor for a
living. Labor ! says fashion, the bare mention of
such a thing would shock the feeble nerves of any
of my followers. Labor ! ! never ! — cheat, lie,
steal, rob, any thing, rather than submit to work
for a living. Let them do the labor who have not
wit enough to get a living without, or so much
of that foolish conscientiousness, that they will
not cheat when they have an opportunity, to ob-
tain the means of following me.
Thus following such pernicious and foolish fash-»
ions is one of the most common causes of disease.
The evils of fashionable life are not confined to
the rich, but the laboring portion of community
have so mistaken their true interest, as to sacrifice
their health and comfort to obtain the means of
imitating the rich, and also by the using those
means when obtained.
He noble is who noble does. The farmer, me-
chanic, and manufacturer of that which is useful,
are the true nobility. Let them, then, take their
66 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
proper station in the scale of beings — establish
their own customs in accordance with reason and
the laws of our nature, so that a proper amount
of labor would be made attractive to all, and all
be under the necessity of doing their proportion
of all the needful labor — none exempt except from
inability, and consequently none over-taxed or
over-burdened. All would then have time and
opportunity to become acquainted with the physi-
ological laws of their nature, so as to avoid those
customs and agents that bring upon them so much
disease.
The cause of all disease can be clearly traced
to the violation of some one or more of the laws
of our nature : —
1st. By our forefathers ; producing in us heredi*
tary taints, such as consumption, scrofula, liver
complaints, &c.
2d. Insufficient or too great an amount of ex-
ercise. The former producing an inactive state
of the organs — the latter producing an exhaustion,
in both of which states they do not perform their
proper offices. The stomach ceases to secrete the
necessary quantity of gastric juice to carry on
digestion, the bowels are costive, the morbific
agents generated in the system retained, the
wheels of life clogged until exhausted nature gives
up the struggle to keep in motion its machinery.
3d. Sudden changes from heat to cold, or cold
to heat.
4th. Eating and drinking that which is injuri-
ous in itself, or if not injurious in itself, made so
by the quantity taken.
5th. Poisons, coming in contact with the sur-
face, taken into the stomach, inhaled into the
lungs, or inoculated into the veins j such as the
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 57
miasma of swamps and lakes, the bite of snakes
or any poisonous reptile or animal ; the inhalation
or inoculation of a poison virus, as the small pox,
measles, &c. ; taking any substance into the sto-
mach capable of destroying life, in small quanti-
ties, although the destruction of life may be pre-
vented by the efforts of nature in expelling it from
the system, or protecting herself against its imme-
diate destructive effect, yet rapidly diminishing
the vitality of the system, and dragging its" victim
slowly but surely to the grave.
6th. Mechanical or chemical injuries ; such as
wounds, cuts, burns, freezes, &c. These causes,
acting separately or combined on the human sys-
tem a length of time, impede the vital functions,
obstruct the free operation of the organs, and
produce disease.
CHAPTER V.
THE EFFECTS OF DISEASE.
We have said that disease was an obstruction or
diminution of vital energy, caused by a violation
of the laws of nature. The effects of this ob-
struction are various, depending on the organ ob-
structed or disenabled, the extent of that obstruc-
tion, and the vital power existing in the system
to overcome the offending causes. The different
symptoms by which the different forms of disease
are characterized, are arranged by medical authors
into classes or kinds, giving to each class a differ-
ent name, as fever, which is subdivided into ten
or twelve kinds or colors, as scarlet, yellow, &c. j
consumption, fits, dropsy, rheumatism, &c. These
68 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
are not separate and distinct diseases, but a mani-
festation or effect of disease.
Fever is not a disease, but the effect of an effort
of nature to overcome disease. Let an individual
be exposed to the cold after sweating, without any
exercise, and what is the result ? Pain in the head
and back, cold chills succeeded by a preternatural
degree of heat, pulse strong and quick. What is
the cause of these symptoms ? A contraction of
the minute blood-vessels of the surface and the
pores of the skin, in consequence of which the
circulation is thrown upon the large blood-vessels,
occasioning fulness and pain in the head, back,
&c., and retention of morbific agents, occasioning
an increased action of the heart and arteries. This
increased action generates more heat than in a
healthy state, which is retained in consequence of
the pores of the skin being closed, through which
medium the extra heat escapes in a healthy state.
This retained heat gives a name to the disease, as
fever means heat. It must appear evident that
this retained heat, called fever, is not the disease,
but the effect of disease. Disease assumes the
most dangerous forms when there is a deficiency
of fever, as in low typhus fever, cholera, cold
plague, paralysis, &c. Fever is an evidence that
nature is active ; whereas a loss of fever, before
the cause is removed, would be a certain indica-
tion of approaching death.
The effect of disease, then, is to produce all
those different phenomena that physicians have
classed under different names, as so many different
diseases.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 09
CHAPTER VI.
TREATMENT OP DISEASE.
We have so long been accustomed to consider
the most prominent symptom attending any form
of disease to be the disease itself, to destroy which
all our efforts should be employed, that it will be
somewhat difficult to present the subject in a true
light, and be clearly understood.
The belief generally prevails, that each form
of disease has a specific remedy, the knowledge
of which may be obtained by study or experience.
But I ask what specific remedy has the medical
faculty discovered for any form of disease ? Have
they a remedy for fever ? If so, why let it run
three or four weeks ? — for consumption ? if so,
why so many die ? — for dropsy ? if so, why fail
to cure in nearly every instance ? — for dyspepsia?
if so, why send patients to the salt water, or some
fashionable place of resort? Perhaps we must
admit that the four thousand years' experience and
study of the learned and wise have made the dis-
covery that brimstone will cure the itch some-
times ; but we are not quite sure that this discov-
ery was not made by some old lady !
The reason why so much unwearied effort, so
much experimenting, so much hard study and
close thinking, as has been bestowed on this sub-
ject, has not led to the discovery of a cure for
disease, is that, in their eagerness to grasp some
mysterious theory, far above the comprehension
of the unlearned, to discover some far-fetched and
dear-bought remedy ; they have overlooked plain,
simple truth, that lies directly in their path, over
which they have stumbled into darkness and error.
70 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
They have trampled under feet the simple plants
of nature's garden, and ransacked the bowels of
the earth for poisons that would operate scientifi-
cally. But so long as the physical system is un-
der the control of established laws, so long will
such remedies fail to accomplish the object of
medical science, viz. to prevent and cure disease.
We have said that disease was obstructed or di-
minished vital action, exhibiting different symp-
toms, according to the extent of the obstruction,
the importance of the organs affected, and the
vigor of constitution, &c., caused by a violation
of the physical laws of our natures ; the effects of
which are fever, consumption, rheumatism, &c.
One or more of the following indications should
be accomplished in the cure of every form of
disease, viz.. relaxation, contraction, stimulation,
soothing, nutrition, and neutralization. These
indications assist nature in her efforts to remove
obstructions, and regain lost energy.
The only remedial agents necessary to be used
in the cure of any form of disease, are those that
are innocent in themselves, acting in harmony
with the laws of nature.
In order to make the subject plain, simple, and
intelligible to all, we shall give a description of
the roots, plants, barks, and other remedial agents
and processes used in accomplishing the necessary
indications, under the head of " MATERIA MEDICA ;"
also a description of a general process adapted to
the cure of nearly every form of disease, with
some variations ; usually termed a " COURSE OF
MEDICINE." And for the satisfaction of those who
may expect to find each form of disease, as classed
by regular physicians, treated upon separately, we
will do so in a brief but plain manner.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 71
CHAPTER VII.
MATERIA MEDICA.
Having mentioned the indications necessary to
be accomplished in the cure of different forms
of disease, we will now describe the articles cal-
culated to answer each of these indications, and
arrange them under their appropriate heads. It
will not be necessary for us to describe all the
remedies that might be used, but only such as are
the best, and will accomplish the object in the
shortest time. This course will reduce our Mate-
ria Medica to a small compass, but sufficiently ex-
tensive to answer all practical purposes. A few
simple remedies, properly applied, will do all to
cure disease that ever medicine was ever designed
to do ; air, exercise, diet, bathing, &c., must do
the remainder, and they will often do more alone
for the cure of disease than all other remedial
agents.
The following classification of remedies has
been adopted, in conformity with the theory advo-
cated in this work. Under each head we shall
mention those articles that may be used as a sub-
stitute for those we have described.
Lobelia inflata,
Crawley root, &c.
f Cayenne,
Ginger,
General Stimulants. < Prickly ash,
Pennyroyal,
'^Canada snakeroot, &c.
7
.Bitter 4
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
Bayberry,
Betbroot,
Sumach,
Astringent. ^ Red raspberry,
Witch hazel,
Hemlock bark,
TONICS. 4 White pond lily.
"Golden seal,
Poplar bark,
Balmony,
Unicorn root,
Winter green,
Gum myrrh.
f Bitter root,
I Dandelion root,
Laxatives ..... < Butternut,
I Cayenne,
l^Boneset.
Ctueen of the meadow,
Cleavers,
Strawberry leaves,
Elder bark,
Coolwort,
w Burdock root, &c,
Lobelia,
Skunk cabbage,
j Pleurisy root,
Expectorants. . . ^ Hoarhound,
Boneset,
Cayenne.
f Cayenne, red pepper,
, Rubef orients. . . < Oil of hemlock,
cedar,
Diuretics ....
« «
LOBELIA.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 73
f Lady's slipper,
Nervines ........ <( Scullcap,
(Slippery elm,
£&,
Buck-horn brake.
RE LAX ANTS.
Relaxaiits are those substances that have the
power of relaxing muscular fibre, and alleviating
spasm. The best and most powerful is LOBELIA
INFLATA.
LOBELIA INFLATA.
Common names— INDIAN TOBACCO, PUKE-WEED, EYE-
BRIGHT, &c.
Lobelia Inflata is a common herb, growing
plentifully in pastures, stubble fields, by the road
sides, and on the banks of streams, in almost every
part of the United States. It is a biennial plant,
growing from ten to eighteen inches high, much
branched. The flowers are palish blue, succeeded
by pods, or seed-vessels, which contain a multi-
tude of brownish and very minute seeds. It
blooms about the middle of July, at which time
the herb should be gathered for tincture ; but the
seed should not be gathered until the month of
September, or October.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Lobelia, when first ta-
ken into the mouth, is nearly insipid, but soon
produces a burning, acrid sensation upon the back
part of the tongue and palate, attended with a flow
of saliva. The plant yields readily its medical
7*
.74 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
qualities to water and alcohol, and may be pre-
served and used in a fluid state.
Lobelia is the most powerful, certain, and harm-
less relaxant that has ever been discovered ; and
as relaxation is an important indication in the cure
of the majority of the various forms of disease,
this article is almost indispensable in the Thom-
sonian Materia Medica.
" The true therapeutic action of lobelia/' says
Dr. Curtis, " I think is not generally understood.
Most persons are under the impression that it is
the principal agent in producing the action which
we call vomiting. But this must certainly be in-
correct. All practitioners, regular and irregular,
who habitually use it, agree that its effect is anti-
spasmodic, as it instantly relieves cramps, spasms,
fits, lock-jaw, &c., and relaxes contracted sinews.
It is also agreed that vomiting is produced by
muscular contraction, either of the chest, abdomen,
or stomach j or all combined. If this were the
effect of the irritation produced by lobelia, that
article would not be, as it certainly is, a sovereign
remedy for spasms. Where there is no disease,
that is, debility of the organs, the lobelia has not
the power to relax the system much, and hence
there is no room for any remarkable degree of re-
action, and of course there is little or no vomiting.
' But,' says one, ' are you sure that lobelia possesses
no other control over the living body, than simply
to relax its several organs ?' I answer, not quite
sure ; but am perfectly convinced that, if it have
fifty other influences, this one of relaxation so far
predominates over them all, as to throw them en-
tirely into the shade. l But is not lobelia a sudor-
ific ?' Yes ; but its mode of producing this effect
is by relaxing, through nervous action, the con-
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 75
tracted mouths of the emunctories or pores of the
skin, and letting off the portion of the blood called
perspiration. It also promotes the secretion of the
bile and urine, by relaxing vessels whose unnatu-
ral constriction is the cause of the retention of
these fluids." " Lobelia is to be considered, at all
times, and under all circumstances, and wherever
applied, not only a pure relaxant, but the most
powerful and innocent yet known. This fact puts
to flight from obstetrics the use of instruments,
and even manual force, in every case except per-
haps the few patients whose pelves are known to
be remarkably deformed by rickets or some other
unfortunate circumstance.'7
Some have been led to suppose, in consequence
of what appeared to them the alarming effects of
lobelia, in cases where there is but little vitality,
or it is improperly administered, that it is a poi-
son, the administration of which is very danger-
ous. But nothing can be farther from the truth.
In proof that lobelia is not a poison, we shall
adduce the testimony of some of the most enlight-
ened professors and practitioners of medicine of
the present age.
Says Prof. Tully, of Yale College, New Haven,
in a letter to Dr. Lee, " I have been in the habit
of employing lobelia inflata for twenty-seven years,
and of witnessing its employment by others for
the same length of time, and in large quantities,
and for a long period, without the least trace of
any narcotic effect. I have used the very best
officinal tincture in the quantity of three fluid
ounces in twenty-four hours, and for seven days
in succession : and I have likewise given three
large table-spoonfuls of it within half an hour,
without the least indication of any narcotic opera-
76 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
tion. I have likewise given it in substance, and
in other forms, and still without any degree of
this operation. * * * I am confident (the old
women's stories to the contrary notwithstanding,)
that lobelia inflata is a valuable, a safe, and a suf-
ficiently gentle article of medicine."
j Here is the testimony of a celebrated professor
of Yale College, who had ample opportunity of
judging, from experience and observation, whether
lobelia was a poison or not.
< Says Prof. Waterhouse, of Harvard University,
Cambridge, " The efficacy and safety of lobelia
inflata, I have had ample and repeated proofs of,
in a number of cases, and on my own person, and
have reason to value it equal with any article in
our Materia Medica."
Says Dr. Thomas Hersey, surgeon in the United
States army in the last war, practising physician
and surgeon at Columbus, Ohio, " The lobelia in-
flata has been denounced as a deadly poison. The
imposition intended to be practised by such an
assertion, is too notorious to merit a serious reply.
I have administered lobelia successfully to the
child of thirty minutes, and to the hoary adult of
eighty years of age, and never knew any danger
result from its use."
j We could bring forward the testimony of thou-
sands of others, who have used lobelia for five,
ten, twenty, and some forty years, in proof that it
is perfectly innocent, acting in harmony with the
laws of life and motion. Those who have assert-
ed that lobelia is poison, have, in nine cases out
of ten, without any doubt, been such persons as
never used it, or saw it used, and therefore their
testimony is not to be depended on.
"But lobelia," says Dr. Peckham, "is some-
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 77
times given when the vitality of the system is so
nearly extinguished by disease, that little or no
effect is obtained from it. Nature is exhausted,
though the spark of life be not quite extinct.
Death will take place, and the lobelia may be re-
tained, and a like result would have followed if
so much warm water had been taken. If nature
be wanting, the best remedial process will be ex-
hibited in vain. She may be assisted to a certain
extent to save life ; but she has her bounds, and
she declares that thus far shalt thou come, and no
farther, and here shall thy remedial waves be
stayed. But because lobelia cannot go beyond
these bounds, and save life where nature, in her
omnipotence, has declared that life should no
longer be, such deaths are laid at the door of this
herb, and it is made answerable for a wrongly
imputed sin."
The different modes of preparing and adminis-
tering lobelia, will be given under the head of',
compounds and course of medicine.
CRAWLEY, OR FEVER ROOT.
This plant occupies high, sandy banks, in sandy
woods. The leaves spring forth all around the
bottom of the stem, at the top of the root. The
stock rises from six to eight inches high, bear-
ing yellow blossoms. The upper side exhibits a
smooth, dark green surface ; underneath they have
a silvery appearance. The roots are of a dark
brown or blackish color, are tender, and easily
broken, resembling the claw of the dunghill fowl.
It grows plentifully in almost all the United States.
i PROPERTIES AND USES. — The pulverized root of
this plant composes the fever powder, so often re-
78 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
commended in Dr. Elisha Smith's botanical work,
It is not commonly known among botanical prac-
titioners, and as we have not sufficiently tested it
ourself, shall depend on the testimony of Dr. Smith,
of New York. "It is," says he, "a powerful
febrifuge, and an agreeable anodyne. I have found
it a sure and quick medicine to excite perspiration,
without increasing the heat of the body. This
root is effectual in all remittent, typhus, nervous,
and inflammatory fevers, and will relieve cramps,
constrictions, and all pains caused by colds, &c.
It produces a general relaxation of the system,
equalizes the circulation, and brings a moisture on
the surface. It is an excellent medicine in pleu-
risy, inflammation of the chest and brain, and is a
sure remedy in erysipelatous inflammation."
" Pulverize the root fine, sift it, and put it in
bottles well stopped from the air. After proper
evacuation of the stomach and bowels, a small
tea-spoonful of this powder may be given every
twenty minutes, in a little pennyroyal or other
herb tea, till a gentle breathing moisture appears
on the skin, or till from four to six are taken,
jwhich has never failed in my practice of answer-
ing the purpose."
BONESET.-— 7%e Leaves and Flowers.
This plant is also called thoroughwort, Indian
Sage, feverwort, sweating plant, &c. It grows
plentifully in almost every part of the United
States, and may be found in meadows and in low,
moist land. It grows from two to five feet high,
branched at the top. The leaves are the broadest
.where they are connected with the stock, and ta-
per off each way to a point. It remains in bloom
THOROUGHWORT.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 79
•
from August to October. The flowers are of a
dullish-white color, and are found on the top of
the stem and branches. It should be collected
when in bloom, and carefully dried.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The warm infusion of
boneset, in large doses, operates as an emetic ; ilx
small doses it produces perspiration, and promotes
all the secretions. The decoction, administered
cold, is both laxative and tonic. It acts as a gen-*
tie laxative without irritating the bowels. Many
families use the boneset alone in the cure of every
form of disease, and are seldom disappointed in
the result. There is no article in the Materia
Medica more general in its application that bone-
set, either the infusion or decoction ; it being a
relaxant, sudorific, antiseptic, stimulant, diuretic,
and tonic.
DOSE. — To produce vomiting, take two ounces
steeped in a quart of water, but not boil ; drink a
cupful every fifteen minutes until it operates. —
For sweating, take the same in small doses, often
repeated ; for a tonic and laxative, drink a cupful
of the decoction once in two hours.
STIMULANTS.
Stimulants are substances capable of increasing
the action or energy of the living body. Pure,
diffusable stimulants act in harmony with the laws
of life, and therefore assist nature in her efforts to
overcome disease ; while acrid and narcotic stimu-
lants produce local irritation, exhausting the pow-
ers of nature. The most pure and healthy stimu-
lant is Cayenne.
8
80 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
•
C A YENNE . Capsicum . — The Pods and Seed- Vessels.
The Cayenne most commonly used by Thom-
sonians is imported from Africa and^ the West In-
dies, being more permanent and gently stimulat-
ing than the American Cayenne. It is somewhat
difficult to get a pure article, such is the propen-
sity to defraud for gain. The African Cayenne is
frequently mixed with a cheaper kind, called
Bombay, or chilly peppers. Even those who pro-
fess to be friends of the Thomsonian system, have
been known to mix Indian meal, ginger, red lead,
logAvood, &c., with pure Cayenne, when grinding
it, and color it with dye-stuffs and red saunders.
Capsicum annuum, (Cayenne,) says Hooper, "is
one of the strongest and purest stimulants known.
This pepper has been successfully employed in a
species of the cynanche maligna, (putrid sore
throat,) which proved very fatal in the West In-
dies, resisting the use of the Peruvian bark, wine,
and other remedies commonly employed. In oph-
thalmia from relaxation, the diluted juice is found
to be a valuable remedy."
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Cayenne is the purest
and undoubtedly the most powerful stimulant
known, and as stimulation is an important indica-
tion to be accomplished in nearly every form of
disease, this invaluable article is among the indis-
pensables. Taken into the mouth, it produces a
pungent, biting sensation ; and if taken in large
quantities into an empty stomach, it will frequent-
ly occasion considerable distress, so as to be alarm-
ing to those unacquainted with it. This is at-
tended with no danger, as it will soon pass away.
It should always be given in small doses at first,
increasing the quantity according to the emergency
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. Ql
of the case. The burning sensation produced by
Cayenne may be relieved by taking or applying a
small quantity of milk or cream. Cayenne may
be used with advaritage in all cases of coldness,
debility, indigestion, costiveness, and in combina-
tion with other medicines in nearly every form of
disease to which mankind are subject.
DOSE. — From one fourth to a whole tea-spoon-
ful in hot water, if designed to produce perspira-
tion ; if for costiveness, one half tea-spoonful in
cold water or molasses three or four times a day.
GINGER.— r/te Root.
Ginger is obtained from the East and West In-
dies. It is a perennial shrub, growing about three
feet high. Care should be observed in purchasing
it, as it is generally mixed with other articles.
For medicine, it is better to purchase the root
unpulverized.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Ginger is warming and
moderately aromatic, and may be used in mild cases
as a substitute for Cayenne. It is used principally
in combination with other articles, and externally
for poultices.
DOSE. — From a half to a whole tea-spoonful in
warm water, sweetened.
PRICKLY ASH.— The Bark and Seed-Vessels.
This shrub is found in the Southern, Middle,
and Western States, growing in rich and com-
monly wettish soil, to the height of from ten to
fifteen feet. The bark is of an ash color, leaves
somewhat similar to those of the elder. The
branches are usually prickly, from which it derives
its most popular name. The seed-vessels are
82 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
greenish red ; in the autumn they assume a brown-
ish color.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The seed-vessels have
a warm, pungent taste, and are an excellent stim-
ulant ; the bark of the stem and root are also pun-
gent, but in an inferior degree. It is a valuable
remedy in all cases where stimulants are required,
as rheumatism, cold hands and feet, ague and fever,
&c. The bark is sometimes chewed for the tooth-
ache.
PENNYROYAL.— The Herb.
This plant, which the God of nature has scat-
tered over almost every part of this country, is one
of the most valuable of the Thorn sonian Materia
Medica. Its qualities are a strong and hardly
aromatic but pleasant smell, a warm and pungent
taste. The medical principle resides in an essen-
tial oil, possessing the same smell and taste of the
herb. Its medical properties are carminative, (hav-
ing power to remove wind from the stomach and
bowels,) stimulant, (possessing the property of ex-
citing increased action in the system,) diaphoretic,
(promoting moderate perspiration. ) It also relieves
spasms, hysterics, promotes expectoration in con-
sumptive coughs, and is a good medicine in the
whooping cough. It is good also to take away
marks and bruises in the face, being bruised in
vinegar, and applied in fomentations.
A tea of this plant is perhaps the best drink
that can be given, together with the composition
powder, Cayenne, &c., to warm the stomach, and
assist an emetic in its operations. The tea should
be made and given warm, freely and frequently.
A person upon taking a " bad cold," (by the way,
he never has a good one,) by taking freely of this
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 93
tea may throw it off, and of course prevent fever,
it being caused by cold. This is a popular reme-
dy all over the country for female complaints ;
but still few persons are aware of its extensive
medicinal properties.
The best time for gathering this herb is about
the month of August. It should be tied up in
bundles, and hung in a warm, dry, and shady place
until dry ; then wrapped in paper, as the best means
of excluding the air, by which, if exposed, it will
lose a large part of its strength and virtue. This
plant, simple as it is, will do more in the curing
of the sick than all the poisonous preparations in-
vented since the age of Paracelsus ; bleeding and
blistering into the bargain. No family should let
the season for gathering it pass without securing
a good supply.
CANADA SNAKEROOT.— The Root.
This plant is found in almost every part of the
United States, particularly in the Northern and
Eastern States, in the woods, and dry, shady places.
The root only is used.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — This is a pleasant,
warming stimulant and nervine. It is very use-
ful in all affections of the lungs, as colds, asthma,
croup, consumption, &c. The ordinary dose is a
moderate tea-spoonful, which may be taken in
warm water sweetened. A decoction with saffron
is excellent to give children when attacked with
any eruptire form of disease.
Black pepper, cinnamon, tansy, red pepper, bay-
berry, yarrow, &c., may also be used where stim-
ulants are required.
8*
84 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
ASTRINGENTS.
Astringents are those substances that, when
taken internally or applied externally, contract the
'muscular tissue, or make it more dense and firm.
They depend for their astringency on tannin, a
'substance well known as being used in the tan-
king of leather.
I BAYBERRY.
This shrub grows most plentifully in towns bor-
'dering on the sea, although it is found in the in-
terior, in neglected fields, and on the side of stony
Chills. It grows in the New England States from
three to five feet high, and bears small berries, of
\vhich candles are sometimes manufactured, com-
bined with tallow.
The bark of the root is the only part used for
medicinal purposes, and should be gathered in the
spring before the bush vegetates, or in the autumn
before it has shed its foliage, as the sap is then in
the bark, and consequently possesses a greater de-
gree of medical virtues. The roots should be dug
and thoroughly cleansed from dirt, and while green
the rind may be easily separated from the trunk
"by pounding it with a wooden mallet ; after
which, dry the bark well, and pulverize it to the
consistency of ordinary flour, and it is then ready
for use.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Bayberry is both astrin-
gent and stimulant, producing a pungent sensation
upon the glands ; it is therefore an invaluable
medicine for canker, whether located in the mouth,
throat, stomach, or bowels. It is an excellent
article for bowel complaints, and if given freely in
the commencement, will generally cure. It makes
BAYBERRY.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. $5
an excellent tooth-powder to cleanse the mouth
and gums. There are many other articles useful
for canker, but bayberry is decidedly the best.
DOSE. — It may be used either in the powder,
about a tea-spoonful at a dose, by mixing a little
sugar and warm water to it, or making an infu-
sion, and drinking freely of the tea,
BETHROOT.— The Root,
The bethroot is found in damp, rocky woods,
delighting in a rich soil, and grows from one to
two feet high, surmounted at the top with three
leaves. It blooms in the month of May, bearing
a white flower.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The bethroot being an
astringent, is useful in all kinds of hemorrhage,
immoderate menstruation, diarrhoea, dysentery,
fluor albus. flooding, &c.
DOSE. — The pulverized root may be taken in
tea-spoonful doses, or it may be steeped, one ounce
to the pint, and given in gill doses.
SUMACH. — The Bark, Leaves, and Berries.
The common upland sumach rises to the height
of from five to ten feet, producing many long
compound leaves, which turn red in autumn. The
berries are also red when ripe, and are of an agree-
able, but very sharp, acid taste. The bark, leaves,
and berries are astringents, tonics, and diuretics ;
either of which may be used in strong decoction
in all cases in which medicines of this class are
needed.
$G A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
WHITE POND LILY.— The Root '
This herb grows in low wet grounds, and ponds
and pools of water, as indicated by its name.
The leaves are large, round, and cleft from the
edge to the stem in the centre, each lobe or por-
tion of the leaf ending in a short, acute point ; the
upper surface being smooth, glassy, and without
veins, and the lower surface reddish, with branch-
ing nerves.
The flowers are large and white, giving out a
very delicious, sweet odor ; opening to the sun in
the morning, and closing at night with the setting
of the sun.
The root, which is the part used as medicine,
is perennial, very long, somewhat hairy, blackish,
knotty, and nearly as large as a man's wrist. It
is a valuable article, used internally or externally.
Internally, it is a mild astringent tonic, very use-
ful in dysentery, diarrhoea, &c. Externally, it is
used in poultices for biles, tumors, inflamma-
tions, &c.
The powdered root given in tea-spoonful doses
in warm water sweetened, is almost a sure remedy
for bowel complaints in children, if given in the
first stages.
It is said that the fresh juice of the root, mixed
with the juice of the lemon, will remove freckles,
pimples, blotches, &c. from the skin.
An infusion of the root is good for sore or in-
flamed eyes.
RED RASPBERRY.— The Leaves.
The red raspberry is so well known that it
needs no description. The leaves are a valuable
astringent, useful in bowel complaints, and for ex-
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. gy
ternal applications to moisten poultices for burns,
&c., and for washing sore nipples. A strong tea
is an excellent article, says Dr. Thomson, to regu-
late the labor pains of women in travail.
WITCH HAZEL.— The Leaves.
This shrub grows on high lands and the stony
banks of streams, from New England to Carolina
and Ohio, from eight to ten feet high.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Astringent, stimulant,
and slightly bitter. This is the best article in our
Materia Medica, says Dr. Curtis, for stopping he-
morrhage. We have used it in hemorrhage from
the lungs, stomach, and other parts of the system,
and have not yet seen a failure. A strong decoc-
tion, drunk and used by injection "per vagina"
is the best article we have ever used for profuse
menstruation, fluor albus, or uterine hemorrhage.
HEMLOCK —The Bark.
This is a well-known astringent, being com-
monly employed in tanning leather. A decoction
of the bark is useful given by injection for bowel
complaints, and for the piles. Applied to sore
nipples it is a never-failing remedy. The oil com-
bined with other articles makes a valuable article
for bathing in rheumatism, &c.
Black birch, red and white oak bark, evan root,
marsh rosemary, hardback, and yarrow, are also
valuable astringents.
88 i GUIDE TO HEALTH.
TONICS.
Tonics are those substances, that when applied
to the living body, increase the strength by ren-
dering the muscular tissue firmer and more com-
pact. They should usually be combined with
stimulants, unless they possess a stimulant pro-
perty,
GOLDEN SEAL.— The Root.
Golden seal grows in great abundance in Ohio
and the Western and Southern States, but is sel-
dom found in the Northern and Eastern. It is
sometimes called Ohio kucuma, yellow puccoon,
&c. The root is one or two inches long, and rough
or knotted, giving off a number of yellow fibres.
It grows from one to two feet high in rich, shady
moist lands.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Bitter, stimulant and
tonic. It is useful in all cases of debility, indi-
gestion, &c. Combined with one part Cayenne
and one fourth part saleratus, it will aid digestion,
and prevent pain in the stomach after eating. A
strong decoction is excellent to wash sore eyes and
all old sores.
POPLAR.- The Bark.
This noble tree, which is found throughout the
United States, is so well known that it needs no
description. It is the common white poplar of
Maine and New Hampshire. Its qualities are,
bitter, diuretic, and astringent — it is also a tonic,
and somewhat stimulant. It is a first-rate article
for indigestion, canker in the stomach, consump-
tion, liver complaints ; also in diarrhoea! affections
and other complaints, occasioned by debility —
SNAKEHEAD.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. $g
acting as a universal tonic ; restoring the tone of
the organs, and producing a healthy action of the
liver j creating an appetite, and giving strength
and vigor to the whole system. Poplar bark is
perhaps the most universally applicable tonic of
Dr. Th3mson's Materia Medica. It possesses val-
uable febrifuge qualities, and on account of its
diuretic qualities, it is a good article in gravel and
dropsy. Dr. J. Young says, " I have prescribed
the poplar bark in a variety of cases of intermit-
tent fever, and can declare from experience that &
is equally efficacious with the Peruvian bark, if
properly administered. There is not," says he,
" in all the Materia Medica, a more certain, speedy
and effectual remedy in hysterics than the poplar
bark." This, let it be remembered, is " regular'7
testimony. This article should be used in com-
bination with other articles forming " bitters," after
the system is cleansed with courses of medicine,
and all morbific matter expelled — the system is
then ready to receive medicines of a strengthen-
ing character. The mode of procuring the bark
is to strip it from the tree, any time when the sap
prevents it from adhering to the wood. The outer
bark should be shaved off; the inner cut into
strips and dried in the shade. The mode of ad-
ministering it is to infuse it in water — an ounce
of the bark to a pint of water, and give freely.
BALMONY.— The Herb.
This herb is found in low, damp places, and
rich shaded soils, in all parts of the United States.
It is called bitter herb, snake head, &c. Tht
flowers are reddish white, and grow in clusters,
and do not bloom until late in autumn.
90 A GUIDE TO HEALTH,
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Thib herb is an excel-
lent bitter tonic and laxative, and is useful in cos-
tiveness, dyspepsia, loss of appetite, &c. It is an
important ingredient in the Spiced Bitters. It
may be given in a tea — drank freely for worms in
children, or jaundice, yellowness of the skin, &c.
UNICORN.— The Root.
The unicorn grows abundantly in Pennsylva-
nia, New York, and Connecticut, and may be
found in meadows and wood lands. It is known
by the name of blazing star, devil's bit, &c. It
grows about a foot in height, and terminates in a
long, graceful spike of flowers, of a whitish color.
It blooms in June. It has a tapering fibrous root,
which is an inch and a quarter long, and not quite
so thick as the little finger.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — It is a very excellent
bitter tonic and stimulant, and has been found
very useful in cases of suppressed menstruation,
and whenever a tonic and stimulant are required.
WINTERGREEN.— The Root and Leaves.
This evergreen is found on pine plains and in
light shaded soils, in all parts of the United States.
It blossoms in midsummer. It is called pipsissi-
way, pyrola, white leaf, &c.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The whole plant has
a pungent and bitter sweet taste. It is diuretic,
sudorific, and tonic. It is useful in all eruptive
forms of disease, and in cancerous or scrofulous
habits. It is frequently used in combination with
other articles in the form of syrups. (See Com-
pounds.)
WINTER GREEN.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 91
GUM MYRRH.
This gum exudes from the body of a small tree
growing in Arabia Felix and Abyssinia. As the
juice exudes, it hardens and adheres to the bark.
There are two kinds of myrrh to be found in the
market — the India and Turkey myrrh ; the former
imported from the East Indies, the latter from the
Levant. There is a great difference in the quality
of this article. The Turkey myrrh is usually the
most free from impurities, and when of good
quality it is reddish-yellow — of a strong, peculiar,
and somewhat fragrant odor, and a bitter aromatic
taste.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Myrrh is a tonic and
stimulant, and possesses anti-septic properties in a
high degree. It is therefore a useful article in all
cases of putrescency or tendency to mortification,
for chronic diarrhoea, and general debility. For a
dose, take half a tea-spoonful pulverized, in half a
cup of warm water, sweetened, and taken before it
settles. It constitutes the most essential ingredi-
ent in the Rheumatic Drops. In the form of
tincture, combined with the tincture of lobelia,
it is useful applied to fresh wounds, eruptions, old
sores, bruises, &c.
BARBERRY .—The Bark.
This shrub grows plentifully in the New Eng-
land States, and is found usually in rocky or stony
fields, rising to the height of eight or ten feet.
The berries are oblong, of a scarlet color, and a
sharp acid taste. j
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The bark of barberry
possesses qualities similar to the golden seal, and
is frequently used as a substitute. It is a bitter
92 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
tonic, improving the appetite, and removing the
yellow tinge from the skin and eyes, and a valua-
ble article to take in the spring of the year for the
jaundice.
Camomile, archangel, elecampane, wormwood
and tansey, are also good tonics.
LAXATIVES.
Laxatives are those medicines that increase the
peristaltic motion of the bowels, without purging
or producing a fluid discharge.
BITTER ROOT.— Bark of the Root.
Bitter root is found in all parts of the United
States where the soil is light and sandy. The
root is perennial, from a third to half an inch in
diameter, very long and intensely bitter. It grows
from two to three feet high, with bell-shaped,
white flowers.
j PROPERTIES AND USES. — Dr. Thomson says in
one of the earlier editions of his work, " Bitter
root is one of the best correctors of the bile with
which I am acquainted, and is an excellent medi-
cine to remove costiveness, as it will cause the
bowels to move in a natural manner. A strong
'decoction of the root, made by steeping it in hot
(water, will operate as a cathartic if taken freely,
and sometimes as an emetic, and is almost sure to
throw off a fever in its first stages."
It is a tonic, anti-spasmodic, .secernent, and
stimulant. Dr. Curtis says he has found it an
excellent article in all cases of torpidity of the
lower viscera, particularly of the liver and kid-
BITTER ROOT.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 93
neys. This article alone has cured cases of dropsy
that had baffled all the skill of the regular prac-
tice. It will be found an important auxiliary to
the general treatment in removing obstructions
peculiar to females.
BUTTERNUT.— Inner Baric.
This tree is too well known to need any de-
scription, being found in rich, moist, rocky soils,
near streams, in almost all parts of the country.
The inner bark of the butternut tree, says How-
ard, and especially of the root, " is a mild and
efficacious purge, leaving the bowels in a better
condition perhaps than almost any other in use.
In diarrhoea, dysentery, and worms, it is the best
cathartic we have ever employed. It may be pre-
pared in extract, pills, syrup, or cordial. For
making the cordial, take any quantity of the fresh
bark, split it into slips, of half an inch wide, beat
it with a hammer, so as to reduce it to a soft,
stringy state ; then put it into an earthen vessel,
packing it close, and pour on it boiling water suf-
ficient to cover the bruised bark ; set the vessel on
coals near the fire, having it closely covered, and
allow it to stand and simmer one or two hours.
Then strain off the liquor, and add sugar or mo-
lasses sufficient to make a syrup, — when it may
be bottled, and one quarter of the quantity of
proof spirits added to preserve it. Dose for a
child, from half to two great-spoonfuls, repeated
at intervals of half or a whole hour, until it ope-
rates. For grown persons the dose must be much
larger. This preparation is mild, but highly effi-
cacious for the bowel complaints of children or
adults, and will cure without giving enough to
94 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
operate as physic ; but for dysentery and worms,
enough should be administered to operate freely
on the bowels. It may be given in all ordinary
diseases of children with the happiest effect, being
a most valuable family medicine.
" The syrup is made in a similar manner, only
it is boiled down so as to make it much stronger
and more actively purgative."
DANDELION.— The Leaves and Root.
This plant is too common to need description,
growing almost every where, on improved lands
that are not ploughed, as pastures, meadows, yards,
&c.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The dandelion is diu-
retic, stimulant, tonic, anti-spasmodic, aperient, and
alterative. It is therefore useful in all cases of
urinary obstructions, jaundice, costiveness, con-
sumption, nervous debility, biliary obstructions,
&c. It should be used freely and perseveringly,
as its effects are gradual but sure upon the system.
It may be used in the form of extract made into
pills, combined with Cayenne and lobelia, or in
syrup.
DIURETICS.
? t **•>'• * 4
Diuretics are those medicines, that, when taken
internally, increase the action of the urinary appa-
ratus.
QUEEN OF THE MEADOW.— The Root.
Ciueen of the meadow, or gravel root, has
long, fibrous roots, white or brownish color. It
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 95
grows from three to six feet high, with pale red-
dish blossoms. It is found in wet ground, or near
streams, though sometimes on high land.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — This is a powerful di-
uretic, useful in all obstructions of the urinary
organs. It is considered by those who have proved
it, an unfailing remedy for the gravel. Used ia
strong decoction, freely.
COOLWORf .—The Leaves.
This herb is found in woods, on shady banks,
and in rich cedar swamps, where the ground is
not very wet. The leaves are heart-shaped,
divided into lobes, and supported on footstalks
eight or ten inches high. The flowers are white,
and make their appearance in June. The green
leaves have the taste and smell of a cucumber.
They should be collected in July or first of August,
and dried without exposure to a damp atmosphere,
and preserved in sealed papers, or covered boxes.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Coolwort is beneficial
in all cases of suppression of the urine or gravelly
complaints. The dried leaves may be steeped and
drank freely.
JUNIPER.— The Fruit.
This shrub is so well known as to need no de-
scription. The berries, the only part used, are
ripe in August. It grows in abundance in all the
New England States bordering on the sea.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — The berries possess
powerful diuretic properties, and are useful in all
cases of strangury, dropsy, gravel, and all urinary
obstructions.
Cleavers, poplar, fir balsam, sumach, strawberry
10
96 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
leaves, elder bark and blows, burdock root, and
spearmint, are , also valuable diuretics ; but are so
well known as to need no description.
EXPECTORANTS.
Expectorants are medicines that promote the
discharge of matter from the lungs, whether it be
mucus, pus, or any other morbid accumulation.
,The best expectorant known is lobelia.
SKUNK CABBAGE.— The Root.
This plant is found plentifully in the Northern
and Middle States. It grows in wet lands, having
many fibrous roots, sending lip many large, bright
green leaves, but without any stem or stalk. Its
smell resembles the peculiar odor of the skunk,
from which it derives its name.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — It is expectorant, anti-
spasmodic, and nervine ; useful in asthma, con-
sumption, cough, hysterics, and all spasmodic af-
fections. One third of a tea-spoonful of the pul-
verized root is enough for a dose, combined with
Cayenne and slippery elm. An over-dose produces
vomiting, head-ache, vertigo, and temporary blind-
ness.
PLEURISY ROOT.— The Root.
This plant is sometimes called butterfly weed,
flux root, white root, &c. It is a beautiful per-
ennial plant, flourishing best in a light sandy soil
by the way side, under fences, and near old
stumps in rye fields. There are sometimes fifteen
or twenty stalks the size of a pipe stem, proceed-
PLEURISY ROOT.
•
LADIES' SLIPPER.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 97
ing from one root, rising from one to two feet in
height, and spreading to a considerable extent.
The flowers are of a bright orange color, and ap-
pear in July and August. These are succeeded
by long slender pods, containing the seeds. It
has a carrot-shaped root, of a light brownish
color.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — This root is diapho-
retic, expectorant, and anti-spasmodic, and is there-
fore useful in cough, pleurisy, colic, flatulence, and
to promote perspiration. It may be given in de-
coction, or in powder, a tea-spoonful at a dose, in
some warming herb tea, until relief is obtained.
NERVINES.
Nervines are those medicines that have a sooth-
ing influence, and quiet the nerves without de-
stroying their sensibility. They are beneficial in
all cases of extreme irritability, restlessness, and
inability to sleep.
LADY'S SLIPPER.- The Root.
This valuable plant has various names — vale-
rian, nerve root, yellow umbil, &c. " There are
three or four species of lady's slipper, as the white,
red, and yellow, from the color of their flowers,
but the qualities are the same. It grows from one
to two feet high, and sometimes has leaves all the
way up the stock ; but more frequently they lie
on the ground ; — the stock has one flower on it,
in the form of a purse or round bag, with a small
entrance near where it joins the stalk, and is some-
thing like a moccason slipper, from which resem-
98 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
blance it probably derived the name of lady's
slipper." The roots are fibrous, and thickly mat-
ted together. It is found in all parts of the United
States. The roots have a bitter, mucilaginous
taste and a peculiar smell, somewhat nauseous. Its
properties are sedative, nervine, and anti-spasmodic.
It is good in all nervous diseases and hysterical
affections, allaying pain, quieting the nerves, and
producing sleep. It is used in nervous head-aches,
tremors, nervous fevers, &c. It is far preferable
to opium, having no baneful nor narcotic effects.
It has produced sleep when opium has failed.
The dose is a tea-spoonful of the powdered root
to a cup of pennyroyal tea, or an ounce of the
root may be infused in a pint of water, and drunk
freely in nervous disorders. In giving courses of
medicine in all cases where the patient is nervous,
it should be given with the other medicine, say a
tea-spoonful to each cup of the emetic. The root
should be dug late in autumn, or early in the
spring, and dried in the sun ; it should then be
pounded and sifted through a fine sieve, and bot-
tled for use.
SCULLCAP.— The Herb.
This plant grows in damp places, and by the side
of streams. It has a small fibrous root, stem four-
cornered, and from ten inches to two feet high.
The flowers are blue, making their appearance in
July, and the seed-vessels of a light green color,
each one containing four seeds.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — " Scullcap has a promi-
nently bitter taste," says Mattson, aand is the
best nervine I ever employed ; it is also tonic and
anti-spasmodic. It is particularly useful in deli-
rium tremensj St. Vitus' dance, convulsions, lock-
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 99
jaw, tremors, ague and fever, tic doloureux, and
all nervous affections. It may be given with ad-
vantage to children, when health is impaired from
the effects of teething."
" The warm infusion may be drunk freely
through the day, or a heaped tea-spoonful of the
powdered leaves, with rather more than an equal
quantity of sugar, steeped in a tea-cupful of boiling
water, may be taken at a dose, and repeated as
often as the symptoms require."
DEMULCENTS.
Demulcents are those medicines that possess
soothing mucilaginous properties, shielding the
surface or membrane from the contact of any irri-
tating substance.
SLIPPERY ELM— The Bark.
This tree, which grows in the Northern and
Eastern States, attains to the height of about thirty
feet, trunk slender, dividing in numerous branches,
furnished with a rough and light-colored bark, and
oblong leaves. The bark may be cut into small
pieces and put into water, either hot or cold, and
it will give out much of its mucilage ; but the
best; way is to take the bark and dry it thorough-
ly, then reduce it to a fine powder. It is use-
ful in cough, bowel complaints, strangury, sore
throat, inflammation of the lungs and stomach,
eruptions, &c. As an external application, in the
form of poultice, it is a valuable remedy far ex-
ceeding any known production, for ulcers, tumors,
swellings, chilblains, burns, sore mouth, thrush,
and as a wash.
100 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
The surgeons in the revolutionary army expe-
rienced the most happy effects from its application
to gun-shot wounds, which were soon brought to
a suppuration, and a disposition to heal. When a
tendency to mortification was evident, this bark
bruised and boiled in water produced the most
surprising good effects. The infusion of the bark
is highly esteemed as a diet drink in pleurisy and
catarrh, and also in diarrhoea and dysentery. It
is very nutritious, and much used as food for the
sick.
COMFREY.— The Root.
This plant is cultivated in gardens, and may be
found growing spontaneously by road sides. It
grows from three to four feet high, with yellowish
flowers.
PROPERTIES AND USES. — Comfrey is mucilagi-
nous, and is therefore useful in coughs, dysentery,
soreness of the bowels, and for poultices. It may
be used in powder, half a tea-spoonful in two
thirds of a cupful of hot water.
Irish moss, buck-horn brake, hollyhock blos-
soms, flax seed, marshmallows, &c., are also muci-
laginous, and may be used in all cases of irritation,
internally or externally.
Synopsis of the medical properties of Plants used
occasionally.
CAMOMILE. — An infusion drank warm is useful in
pulmonary complaints, and in all cases of debility ,•
applied as a fomentation in glandular swellings.
MAYWEED — The infusion may be given to pro-
mote perspiration, and used externally in fomerv-
tations for white swellings, rheumatism, &c.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. JQJ
BLACK COHOSH. — A syrup of this plant is useful
in coughs ; and a poultice made by thickening the
decoction with slippery elm is useful in all kinds
of inflammation.
INDIAN HEMP. — This root has been used with
success in dropsy, by steeping an ounce in a quart
of water, and taking half a glass three or four
times a day.
SPIKENARD. — The root of this plant has a warm,
aromatic, balsamic, fragrant taste, and is useful in
all pulmonary complaints, taken in infusion, de-
coction, or syrup.
SOLOMON'S SEAL. — An infusion of the roots is
useful in all cases of fluor albus, (whites,) and in
immoderate flowing of the menses, arising from
female weakness.
SAFFRON. — This plant is an excellent article to
promote perspiration, a tea of which is very valu-
able in all eruptive forms of disease, as canker
rash, measles, &c.
CRANE'S BILL is a good astringent, useful in
bleeding, internally or externally, or in hemor-
rhage from the lungs, bowels, or womb.
YELLOW-DOCK. — A syrup made of this root, with
equal parts of wintergreen and sarsaparilla, is ex-
cellent to eradicate scrofulous and other taints of
the system..
EVAN ROOT. — This plant grows in low, marshy
land, and is sometimes called chocolate root. It
possesses slightly astringent and tonic properties,
and may be used with benefit in diarrhoea, dysen-
tery, and bowel complaints in general.
HOPS. — Hop tea may be used with benefit as a
means of quieting nervous agitation, and promot-
ing sleep. It is useful in cases of delirium tre-
mens. The yellow powder which may be very
102 A GUIDE 1O HEALTH.
readily obtained from hops by rubbing and sifting
them, contains the active principle of hops. This
powder, (called lupulin,) by being rubbed up in a
warm mortar, will form a paste, which may be
made into pills, and taken for the purposes above
mentioned.
MEADOW FERN. — A strong decoction of the leaves
and burs of the meadow fern have been found very
useful in erysipelas, taken freely, and bathing the
part affected. It is also a valuable external appli-
cation for all eruptions and troublesome humors.
HORSEMINT. — A strong tea affords relief in gravel
and suppression of the urine.
UVA URSI. — A tea drank freely is useful in ul-
ceration of the kidneys and bladder, and all uneasy
obstructions.
HIGH CRANBERRY.— A strong tea drank freely
(says Smith) is very effectual in relaxing spasms
and cramps of all kinds.
GUM ARABIC makes a line mucilage for stran-
gury and scalding of the urine.
Ox GALL, made into pills, combined with golden
seal and Cayenne, says Dr. Osgood, is of inesti-
mable value in those cases of dyspepsia accompa-
nied with flatulency, sour eructations, and obsti-
nate constipation of the bowels. For the method
of preparing it for use, see Compounds.
Directions for gathering and preparing Medicines.
The remedies used for the cure of disease should
be gathered with much care, and by persons who
have a sufficient knowledge of the roots and plants
they wish to gather, to be a guarantee against any
mistake being made. The season of the year in
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
which they are gathered is to be regarded, with-
out which the medicine cannot be depended on.
Every practitioner should gather as much of his
own medicine as possible.
Herbs and leaves should be gathered while in
blossom. If left till they have gone to seed, the
strength is much diminished. They should be
dried and carefully kept from the air. Herb tea,
to do any good, should be made very strong.
Barks and roots should be collected in the spring
or autumn. They should not be pulverized a
long time before they arc required for use, as they
lose their strength.
Flowers should be gathered when in perfection,
and in dry weather, dried in the shade, and kept
from the air.
Seeds should be gathered when they are fully
ripe, separated from chaff and dirt, and kept in
bottles or jars for use.
CHAPTER VIII.
COMPOUNDS.
The principal objects in combining medicines
are, to increase their strength, accomplish differ-
ent indications at the same time, or to render them
more pleasant and agreeable. A large number of
the compounds offered to the public, are prepared
without any regard to either of these objects, but
according to the fancy of the one who prepares
them. Much imposition is practised on the people
by compounds, that could not be done with simple
medicines, as a knowledge of their component
parts would destroy their value.
11
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
We do not say that the compounds hereafter
mentioned are the best that could be prepared, or
that they will invariably effect a cure ; but we
know them to be useful in the cases for which
they were designed.
Dose of Medicine.
The quantity of medicine to be taken at a dose,
depends on the age, sex, or peculiarity of consti-
tution. The quantity mentioned in this work is
an average dose for a full-grown man. Females
require less. For children the doses may be gra-
duated by the following rule : —
For a youth of fifteen years, the dose may be
two thirds the quantity for a grown person ; for a
child of ten years, one half the quantity ; for one
of two years, one sixth the quantity ; for a child
of one year, one tenth the quantity.
COMPOSITION POWDER.
Take of bayberry 2 Ibs.
" " ginger lib.
" "Cayenne... 2 oz.
" " cinnamon 2 oz.
" " prickly ash 2 oz.
All to be finely pulverized, and sifted through
a fine sieve, and well mixed.
DosE.-^One tea-spoonful in two thirds of a cup-
ful of hot water, sweetened ; milk or cream may
be added to make it more agreeable.
This compound, being stimulant, astringent,
and tonic, is an invaluable family medicine, being
adapted to all forms of disease, in connection with
laxatives, if costiveness be a prominent symptom,
or relaxants in cases of constriction.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 105
SPICED BITTERS.
Take of poplar bark 2 Ibs.
" " golden seal... 8 oz.
" " prickly ash bark 12 oz.
" " ginger 8 oz.
" " cloves 8oz.
" " cinnamon 4 oz.
" " balmony 8 oz.
" " Cayenne 6 oz.
" " white sugar 5 Ibs.
The whole finely pulverized, sifted, and well
mixed. This is an excellent tonic compound, use-
ful in all cases of indigestion, loss of appetite, jaun-
dice, general debility, and all other cases where
the system is in a weak, relaxed state. They
should not be used in cases of constriction, as in
fevers or tightness of the lungs.
DOSE. — Take a tea-spoonful of the powder, in
half a cupful of hot water, three times a day, be-
fore eating ; or take the same quantity into the
mouth dry, and wash down with cold water.
DIARRHCEA POWDERS.
Take of bayberry * . . .4 oz.
" " golden seal •••••4oz.
" " rhubarb 4 oz.
" " saleratus 1 oz.
" " gum myrrh £ oz.
" " cinnamon ....2oz.
" " peppermint plant. . • . . .2 oz.
" " loaf sugar lib.
All finely pulverized, sifted through a fine sieve,
and well mixed.
This is. one of the most valuable preparations
known for diarrhea, cholera morbus, summer com-
106 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
plaint of children, dysentery, &c. It comes the
nearest to a specific for these forms of disease, in
the early stages, .of any medicine we have ever
used.
DOSE.— Put a tea-spoonful of the powder into
two thirds of a cupful of hot water, and add two
tea-spoonfuls of loaf sugar ; and for a child one
year old, give one or two tea-spoonfuls of the tea
once in fifteen minutes, until the desired object is
accomplished.
FEMALE RESTORATIVE.
Take of poplar bark 5 Ibs.
cloves 8 oz.
cinnamon 8 oz.
bethroot 1 Ib.
witch hazel leaves 1 Ib.
loaf sugar 8 Ibs.
Cayenne 6 oz.
All finely pulverized, sifted, and well mixed.
This compound is particularly designed for
weakly complaints of females, such as fluor albus,
bearing down, weakness, profuse menstruation, &c.
DOSE. — A tea-spoonful in half a cupful of hot
water, three times a day.
FEMALE STRENGTHENING SYRUP.
Take of comfrey root. 4 oz.
" " elecampane root 2 oz.
" " hoarhound .....loz.
Boil them in three quarts of water down to three
pints ; strain and add while warm —
Bethroot pulverized % oz.
Loaf sugar 1 Ib.
Brandy .«» * * t . t »«•«*•.•••«••• 1 pt.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 107
DOSE. — From half to two thirds of a wine glass-
ful, three or four times a day.
This is used in female weakness, bearing down,
of the womb, fluor albus, debility, barrenness, &c.
THE MOTHER'S CORDIAL.
Take of partridge-berry vine, dried ... 1 Ib.
" " high cranberry or cramp bark 4 oz.
" " unicorn root 4 oz.
" " blue cohosh 4 oz.
Boil in two gallons of water to one ; strain and
add one pound and a half of sugar, and three pints
of brandy. Its effects are to shorten and diminish
the sufferings of child-birth, and thus place both
mother and child in a state of safety. It should
be used daily for two weeks immediately preced-
ing confinement as a preparatory. j
DOSE. — From half to a wine-glassful two or three
times a day, and one at bed-time, in a little hot
water. [Dr. P. F. Sweet.]
FEMALE POWDERS
Take of gum myrrh 4 oz.
" " Cayenne 4 oz.
" " unicorn 4 oz.
" " tansy 4 oz.
" " gum aloes... £ oz.
All finely pulverized, sifted, and well mixed.
DOSE. — Half a tea-spoonful in molasses or ho-
ney, three or four times a day. This compound
is designed for obstructed or suppressed menstru-
ation.
COMPOUND FOR CANKER.
Take of bayberry • . .4 oz.
" " white pond lily ...... 4 oz.
" " Cayenne ..loz.
• " " loaf suar 1 1 • 1 1 1 1 1 12 Ibs.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
All finely pulverized, sifted, and well mixed.
DOSE. — Half a tea-spoonful in honey, or a tea-
spoonful steeped in a cupful of water, to gargle
the mouth and throat. Useful in all cases of can-
ker in the mouth, stomach, or bowels.
ANTI-DYSPEPTIC POWDER.
Take of Cayenne 2 oz.
" " golden seal 2 oz.
" " saleratus £ oz.
DOSE. — Half a tea-spoonful, when well mixed,
in half a cupful of hot water about fifteen minutes
after eating. Useful in all cases of indigestion or
pain in the stomach after eating.
PILLS.— No. 1.
Take of lobelia seed 4 oz.
" " Cayenne 4 oz.
" " valerian 4 oz.
" " slippery elm 2 oz.
" " dandelion extract . . . .4 oz.
Mix and roll in slippery elm. Designed to relax
the system gradually, so as not to produce vomit-
ing. Useful in all cases of constriction or fever,
head-ache, liver complaint, &c.
DOSE. — From one to four at night, or as often
as the nature of the case may require.
PILLS.— No. 2.
Take of butternut extract ... .2 oz.
" " rhubarb 2 oz.
" " Cayenne 1 oz.
" " cinnamon .......... 1 oz.
" " lobelia seed 1 oz.
" " aloes £oz.
" " golden seal 2 oz.
*.?**;„ " slippery elm , . » 4 oz.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 10g
Moisten with gum arabic water. Mix and make
into pills. These pills are designed for universal
application in all cases not accompanied with loose-
ness of the bowels. Their efficacy in biliary
obstructions and costiveness has been unprece-
dented.
INJECTION POWDER
Take of bayberry . . * • 4 oz.
" " Cayenne 1 oz.
" " lobelia herb 4 oz.
" " slippery elm 2 oz.
" " valerian 2 oz.
All finely pulverized, and well mixed.
DOSE. — Two tea-spoonfuls in a gill of hot wa-
ter, given about blood warm.
ELDER SALVE.
Take the white-pithed elder sticks, run them
quickly through hot embers, and the cuticle will
easily slip off. Then scrape off the green bark,
and make a strong decoction. Put into a quart of
this, a half-pint of mutton tallow, as much neat's
foot oil, and a table-spoonful of balsam of fir.
(Sweet oil or fresh butter, and pine turpentine will
do, instead of neat's foot oil and balsam, when
these cannot be had.) Boil till it ceases to spar-
kle and make a noise, when it will be done. More
mutton tallow would make it harder ; less of this,
and more oil, would make it softer. It should be
very soft for cancers and burns, and pretty hard for
fresh wounds that contain no canker. No better
salve is made than this. It combines the proper-
ties of a protector and healer, while it is entirely
permeable to the matter of the sore, and if often
changed, will effectually remove it. [Dr. Curtis.]
J10 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
HEALING SALVE.
Take of beeswax 1 Ib.
" " white turpentine 1 Ib.
" " balsam fir lib.
" " fresh butter lib.
Melt and simmer them together, then strain off
for use ; to be applied to cuts, bruises, ulcers, &c.
after the inflammation is removed.
ADHESIVE AND STRENGTHENING PLASTER.
Take of rosin 2 Ibs.
" ' beeswax 2^- oz.
" ' mutton tallow 2^ oz.
" ' camphor 1 oz.
" ' brandy 1 gill.
" ' oil of hemlock. . . . . .£ oz.
The beeswax and tallow to be put in first, then
the rosin ; melt over a slow fire, stirring them till
melted ; then add the camphor ; after it is dissolved,
add the brandy gradually, then turn it into cold
water, and work it until it will remain on the top
of the water. This is a valuable application for
pain in the side, back, &c., rheumatism, or weak-
ness in any part of the system where it can be
applied. It may also be applied to ulcers, wounds,
&c., as a salve. It may be used also to confine
the edges of deep or large wounds, and thus ena-
ble them to heal with greater facility.
ANTI-SPASMODIC TINCTURE,
OR THIRD PREPARATION OF LOBELIA.
Take of lobelia seed, pulverized. . .1 Ib.
" " Cayenne 4 oz.
" " valerian ..4oz.
" " Holland gin ,1 gal.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
.11
Infuse for ten days in a closely-stopped vessel,
shaking it every day ; then strain off for use.
This preparation is valuable in violent attacks
of any form of disease, such as lock-jaw, fits, hy-
drophobia, suspended animation, to expel poison
of any kind from the system ; as an external
application, it is useful in sprains, bruises, rheu-
matic pains, &>c.
DOSE. — A tea-spoonful, repeated as often as the
nature of the case requires, in some warming tea.
DYSENTERY OR CHOLERA SYRUP.
Take of white pond lily, root 4 oz.
" " green peppermint plant. . .8 oz.
" " bayberry 4 oz.
Boil in one and a half gallons of water down to
one gallon, strain and add —
Gum myrrh 1 oz,
Cayenne £ oz.
Rhubarb 4 oz.
Saleratus ^ oz.
Loaf sugar 1 lb.
Fourth proof brandy 1 pt.
DOSE. — Haifa wine-glass once in two hours.
This syrup is an invaluable remedy for diarrhoea,
dysentery, cholera morbus? and the summer com-
plaints of children.
WORM SYRUP.
Take of butternut bark 4 oz.
" sage 2 oz.
" gum myrrh 2 oz.
" " poplar bark 2 oz.
" bitter root 4 oz.
Boil in one gallon of water down to two quarts.
112 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
strain and add two pounds white sugar and a half
pint of Holland gin.
DOSE. — Four tea-spoonfuls once an hour until
it acts gently on the bowels. Designed to expel
worms from the stomach and bowels.
EMETIC POWDER.
Take of lobelia, herb 4 oz.
" " lobelia, seed 4 oz.
" " bayberry 2 oz.
" " Cayenne 4 oz.
" " valerian 2 oz.
All finely pulverized, and well mixed.
DOSE. — Put four tea-spoonfuls in a cup of hot
water, and give four tea-spoonfuls of the tea, after
the sediment settles, once in ten minutes until it
operates freely as an emetic.
STIMULATING LINIMENT.
Add 1 oz. oil hemlock, 1 oz. oil cedar, 1 oz. oil
spearmint, to a pint of the anti-spasmodic tincture.
Useful in all cases of pain, not attended with in-
flammation and paralytic affections.
COUGH POWDER.
Take of Cayenne £ oz.
" " lobelia, herb 1 oz.
" " slippery elm 2 oz.
" " skunk cabbage. .... .1 oz.
" " wake robin 1 oz.
" " valerian. ...loz.
" " prickly ash. ........ 1 oz.
All finely pulverized, and well mixed.
DOSE. — Half a tea-spoonful in hot water, sweet-
ened, once in two or three hours. Valuable in all
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. U$
cases of cough, consumption, croup, asthma, hoarse-
ness, &c.
COUGH DROPS.
Take of lobelia herb 4 oz.
" " hoarhound 2oz.
" " comfrey 2 oz
'* " elecampane 2 oz.
" " boneset 4 oz.
Boil in three quarts of water to three pints, strain
and add two pounds of white sugar and one pint
of Holland gin. i
DOSE. — Two or three tea-spoonfuls once an
hour j for asthma, croup, cough, whooping cough,
consumption, &c.
TINCTURE OF MYRRH.
Take of gum myrrh 4 oz.
" " alcohol 1 qt.
Infuse for twelve days, and strain. This is an
excellent wash for offensive ulcers, and for all
wounds where there is a tendency to mortification.
TINCTURE OF LOBELIA.
Take of lobelia, herb ....... .4 oz.
" " alcohol Ipt.
" " water 1 pt.
Infuse twelve days, and strain. This is a con-
venient form to administer in many cases, espe-
cially for children, and for external application in
eruptive forms of disease.
An acid tincture is prepared by putting 4 oz.
lobelia herb into a quart of vinegar.
114 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
TINCTURE OF CAYENNE.
Take of Cayenne 4 oz.
" " alcohol or vinegar. ... 1 pt.
Infuse for ten days, and strain. Used in all cases
of paralysis for bathing, and for rheumatism, swell-
ed joints, &c.
COMPOUND TINCTURE OF MYRRH,
OR HOT DROPS.
Take of gum myrrh . « 12 oz.
" " Cayenne 1 oz.
" " fourth proof brandy. ... 1 gal.
Put them into a jug or glass demi-john, and shake
them several times a day for a week, when the
liquor may be poured off and bottled for use.
This preparation is useful for bathing in cases
of debility or a relaxed state of the surface, as in
night sweats — to check diarrhoea, relieve pain in
the stomach or bowels, and also for the tooth-ache.
DOSE. — From one to four tea-spoonfuls in hot
water. For the tooth-ache, wet a piece of cotton
in it, and put it into the tooth.
STIMULATING CONSERVE.
Take of golden seal 2 oz.
" " poplar bark 2 oz.
" " prickly ash. . 2 oz.
" " cinnamon 2 oz.
" " Cayenne 1 oz.
" " loaf sugar 4 Ibs.
All pulverized and well mixed. Knead them into
a stiff dough with the mucilage of slippery elm,
adding 1-4 oz. each of the oils of pennyroyal and
peppermint. It may be made into cakes or loaves
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. H5
"of a convenient size. This preparation is useful
for coughs, colds, sore throat, hoarseness, &c. It
may be carried in the pocket and eaten freely.
TINCTURE OF FIR BALSAM.
Take of fir balsam. 1 oz.
" " alcohol 1 pt.
Shake them well together. To be applied to
fresh wounds, bums, and ulcers. A tea-spoonful
taken two or three times a day is beneficial in
coughs, soreness of the bowels, &c.
ESSENCES.
Take, of the essential oil of the essence you
wish to make, one ounce, alcohol one pint, shaking
them well together.
PILE OINTMENT.
Take of hemlock bark, finely pulverized, one
ounce, fresh lard six ounces ; mix them together
thoroughly. It may be confined to the parts by
means of a bandage, and a piece of cotton.
DIURETIC SYRUP.
Take of queen of the meadow. . . .4 oz.
' juniper berries 4 oz.
1 ' cleavers 4 oz.
<c " burdock root or seed 4 oz.
Make a strong decoction ; strain and add two
pounds of honey and half as much Holland gin
as there is of the tea, and bottle for use.
DOSE. — Take half a glass three times a day.
This preparation is very useful in gravel, stran-
gury, dropsy, &c.
12
116 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
HEAD-ACHE SNUFF.
Take Df bayberry 1 oz.
" " blood root J- oz.
" " sassafras bark. ..... 1 oz.
Finely pulverized and mixed.
SMELLING SALTS.
Take of pearlash 1 oz.
" " sal ammoniac £ oz.
Pulverize each by itself, and mix. Preserve in
a closely stopped bottle.
ELM POULTICE.
Take of slippery elm. . . . 2 tea-spoonfuls.
" " lobelia herb.... 1 do.
" " ginger I do.
Mix in warm water. Useful in all cases of pain
and inflammation ; if the skin is off, the ginger
may be omitted.
ANTI-DYSPEPTIC PILLS
Empty the contents of three large ox galls into
a quart bowl, immerse into a vessel of boiling
water, and keep the water boiling quite gently for
the space of six or eight hours, or until the gall
shall have acquired the consistency of thick mo-
lasses ; then remove it from the fire, and let it
stand until it becomes cool ; then mix with it a
powder, composed of five parts of finely pulver-
ized golden seal, and one part Cayenne, and mould
it into a pill-mass ; then divide it into five grain
pills. Administer from two to four, according to
the nature of the case, three times in twenty-four
BLOOD ROOT.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 117
hours. They rectify the acidity of the stomach
and remove the distress, and regulate the bowels.
[Thomsonian Advertiser.]
ANTI-EMETIC DROPS.
Take of salt 2 oz.
" " Cayenne 1 oz.
" " vinegar 1 qt.
Mix. Dose, a table-spoonful whenever there is
great nausea or vomiting.
TOOTH-ACHE DROPS.
Take of oil of sassafras £ oz.
" " oil of summer savory . . . •£ oz.
" " oil of cloves £ oz.
Mix ; dip a piece of cotton in the drops, and put
it in the tooth.
WINE BITTERS.
Take of poplar bark .3 Ibs.
" goldenseal 1 Ib.
" balmony 1 Ib.
" scullcap 8 oz.
" unicorn 8 oz.
" Cayenne 4 oz.
Put these materials into a convenient vessel, add
four gallons of water, and boil gently for half an
hour, or until the liquid is reduced to about three
gallons, keeping the vessel in the mean time close-;
ly covered ; strain through a coarse cloth, and add
fifteen pounds of sugar, and boil again until the.
scum ceases to rise, which will be in about five)
minutes. This done, strain the liquor a secondj
time through a cloth or sieve, and when nearly
12*
118 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
cool add the infusion of half a pound of prickly
ash berries and a pound of cinnamon, prepared by
steeping them in a close vessel with twelve gallons
of sweet Malaga wine. The preparation is then
fit for use, and should be put into clean bottles or
kegs.
DOSE. — Half a wine glass three times a day be-
fore eating. Useful in dyspepsia, loss of appetite,
debility, sinking at the stomach, drowsiness, head-
ache, &c.
FOR POLYPUS IN THE NOSE.
Take blood root, bayberry, and black pepper,
equal parts, all finely pulverized and well mixed.
To be taken as snuff, or blown into the nose
through a quill.
SYRUP FOR PURIFYING THE BLOOD.
Take of yellow dock root. . . .4 oz.
" " dandelion root 4 oz.
" " wintergreen 4 oz.
" " sarsaparilla 4 oz.
" " blue cohosh 2 oz.
Boil in one gallon of water : strain and add one
pint of Holland gin. Dose, a wine-glassful once a
day. Useful in all cases of scrofula, mecurial dis-
ease, cancer, or any eruption of the surface,
depending on an impurity of the blood.
SPRUCE BEER.
Take four gallons of water, boil half of it ; let
the other half be put cold into a barrel, and upon
this pour the boiling water ; then add three quarts
of molasses and a little of the essence of spruce,
tstir them together ; add a gill of yeast, and keep
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. Ug
the whole in a moderate heat, with the bung out,
for two days, till the fermentation has subsided ;
then bottle it, and it will be fit for use in a week
or ten days.
DR. HULL'S BILIOUS PHYSIC.
Take eight ounces aloes, one ounce each of mace,
myrrh, cinnamon, cloves, saffron and ginger ; four
ounces of the dried leaves of the garden sunflower.
Pulverize the articles separately, and mix them
thoroughly. Dose, a tea-spoonful.
We insert this recipe for the benefit of those
who wish to take occasionally a portion of physic ;
it is probably as good as any thing of the kind.
SUDORIFIC POWDERS.
Take of lobelia, herb 4 oz.
" " pleurisy root. . . . • 4 oz.
" " skunk cabbage 4 oz.
" " crawley root .4 oz.
DOSE. — A quarter of a tea-spoonful once an hour,
until a gentle perspiration is produced. In typhus
or scarlet fever it may be increased as the case may
require. Valuable for producing perspiration and
equalizing the circulation; highly useful for a
cough, and admirably adapted to break up a cold.
FEMALE TONIC POWDERS.
Take of comfrey 2 oz.
" " elecampane 2 oz.
" " rosin 1 oz.
" " loaf sugar 8 oz.
All finely pulverized and well mixed. Dose, a
tea-spoonful once a day in hot water. A valuable
remedy for the fluor albus or whites.
1<JO A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
ITCH OINTMENT.
Take of tincture of myrrh. ... 1 qt.
" " tincture of lobelia. . . . 1 qt.
" " spirits turpentine .... £ pt.
Mix and apply to the entire surface night and
morning.
CANCER PLASTER.
Take of red clover blossoms any desirable
quantity, and water sufficient to cover them ; boil
gently until the strength of the blossoms is ex-
tracted, which will be in about an hour ; strain
through a coarse cloth, and use pressure sufficient
to force out all the liquid ; pour this into some
convenient vessel, and place it in a kettle of water
over the fire ; boil until the liquid is of the con-
sistence of tar.
Spread this on a piece of linen, or soft leather.
It is one of the best applications for open or run-
ning cancers and ill-conditioned sores or ulcers of
every description, deep, ragged-edged and other-
wise badly conditioned burns.
CATARRH SNUFF.
Take of blood root .2 oz.
" " skunk cabbage. ...••! oz.
" " lobelia £ oz.
" " snake root £ oz.
" " slippery elm 1 oz.
All finely pulverized, sifted and well mixed.
Useful in catarrh and stoppage in the nose.
BLUE FLAG.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 121
MEADOW-FERN OINTMENT.
Take of meadow-fern leaves and balm of Gilead
buds, well bruised or pounded, each three ounces ;
fresh lard, a pound. Moisten the buds with water,
and simmer them in the lard over a slow fire until
they cease to be glutinous, which will be in three
or four hours ; then add the meadow-fern burs,
also moistened with water, and continue the sim-
mering until their strength is extracted, which
may be determined by rubbing them through the
fingers, and ascertaining that they do not emit a
fragrant smell. Pass the ointment through a
coarse cloth or sieve, and pour it into some con-
venient vessel.
An excellent application in tetters, scald head,
soreness of the lips, itch, poison from ivy or dog-
wood, and various cutaneous eruptions.
DR. ELISHA SMITH'S ANTI-MERCURIAL SYRUP.
Take of sarsaparilla 2 Ibs.
' " guiac. chips I Ib.
' " blueflag 6oz.
' " prickly ash bark 3 oz.
' " liquorice 4 oz.
' " stramonium* seeds ^ oz.
Boil in two or three waters, until the strength is
obtained, forming two gallons of the decoction ;
to which is to be added, when cold, one and a
half gallon of molasses and two ounces of the oil
of sassafras ; the whole to be well shaken together
and bottled for use.
This compound is highly recommended by Dr.
* This article we always reject from the compound, for rea-
sons well known to Thomsonians
122 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
Smith of New York, for cancerous, scrofulous,
and all other humors and taints, particularly for
those forms of disease produced by mercury that
every where exhibit themselves, and venereal.
CHAPTER IX.
A COURSE OF MEDICINE.
This does not consist in the application of a
single remedy, as many have supposed, but of a
series of remedies, following each other in quick
succession, by which disease is overcome immedi-
ately, instead of allowing it to progress a great
length of time. It includes injections to evacuate
the bowels, and stimulate them to action ; vapor
bath, to promote perspiration, and throw from the
system the morbific matter that has been retained ;
relaxants and stimulants, to arouse nature to throw
off the morbific accumulations of the stomach ; a
second administration of the injection and applica-
tion of the vapor bath ; concluding with washing
over with cold or warm saleratus water.
ENEMAS OR INJECTIONS.
This mode of administering medicine consti-
tutes a very important part of the Thomsonian
practice, and ought not to be omitted in conse-
quence of a false delicacy on the part of the
patient, or to avoid the labor on the part of the
physician. In no other way can medicine be ad-
ministered to accomplish so much, in obstinate
cases, as by injections. They not only act on the
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 123
bowels to remove faecal matter, but also produce
the effect with much more promptness, than the
medicines composing the injections will produce,
when taken into the stomach. In all cases of
irritability of the stomach, colic, stoppage in the
bowels, costiveness, fits, lock-jaw, &c., injections
are indispensable. They should be prepared in
reference to the indications to be accomplished.
If the object is simply to evacuate the bowels,
half a tea-spoonful of composition, and as much
slippery elm in a gill of hot water, will answer
the purpose. If to check a diarrhoea, or for the
piles, a strong tea of hemlock bark should be used
instead of hot water. But the formula under the
head of compounds, (see Index,) will be the- best
for ordinary cases, increasing or diminishing the
quantity of lobelia, &c., as the case may require.
Dr. Thomson says, with much truth, that it is
better to administer injections ten times when
they are not necessary, than omit them once when
needed.
VAPOR BATH.
This invaluable remedial agent has been in use
from time immemorial. Among the Russians,
Egyptians, and Turks, it has been used for cen-
turies as a luxury, and as a cure and preventive of
disease. It is a well-known fact that for five
hundred years Rome had no physician but her
baths, which they frequented at least once a week,
and by many daily, whether in a state of health
or sickness. The Rev. W. Tooke says that he
has no doubt but that the Russians owe their
great longevity, their extraordinary robust health,
and their entire exemption from certain moral
diseases, to their daily use of the vapor bath.
13
124 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
The use of the vapor bath is quite common among
the Turkish ladies, who probably would not suffer
in point of beauty and delicacy, by comparison
with the females of any other country, yet they
use the vapor bath, followed immediately by the
cold shower bath, which gives them a ruddy,
florid glow of countenance, unknown to but few
females. The American aborigines have their
baths, out of which they rush, and plunge into
cold running water, beside which their baths are
purposely built. In view of the fact, that three
fifths of all we take into the system is thrown out
through the pores of the skin, what can be more
important to health, than an unobstructed state of
that organ ? and what remedial agent better adapt-
ed to remove the cause of disease than the vapor
bath ? which tends to remove obstructions from
the skin, and arouse a healthy action in the system,
determines the blood to the surface, and throws
from the circulating fluid the various impurities
with which it is loaded.
The modes of applying the vapor are various.
The most convenient and economical mode we
have ever seen, is a tin box, about four inches
square, with a horizontal partition, about one and
a half inches from the top, in which are inserted
five tubes, the size of common lamp tubes, to come
even with the top of the box, with a hole for
turning in alcohol, which should be stopped tight,
and the partition wiped dry before lighting the
wicks ; this is to be used for a lamp to generate
heat, after putting in wicking and filling it with
alcohol : another box of the same size, with legs
about four inches long, the cover soldered on to
the top, and a half inch tube inserted to allow the
steam to pass off; this box should be nearly filled
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 125
with water and placed over the lamp, after light-
ing the wicks. Place this under a chair in which
the patient is to sit, divested of all his clothes.
Take a blanket or a piece of oiled cloth or silk,
the size of a blanket, sew the sides together, and
run a string into the top, so as to draw it up,
around the neck. Put this over the patient and
chair ; the feet should be immersed in warm water
at the same time ; and warming teas or composi-
tion administered while steaming. A pipe may be
fixed to convey the steam from the boiler to the
bed, if the patient is unable to sit up, or to apply
it to any portion of the system. When there is
sufficient vitality in the system to favor re-action,
the last vapor bath of the course should be follow-
ed by a cold hand-bath or washed all over with
cold water ; after which the patient should be
rubbed briskly two or three minutes, and dressed,
if able. After remaining in doors an hour or two,
he may take exercise in the open air, if the
weather is sufficiently mild and pleasant, and he
feels able so to do.
DIRECTIONS FOR A COURSE.
Put four tea-spoonfuls of composition, one of
valerian, and 1-2 do. of cayenne into a pitcher,
pour on it a quart of boiling water. Give the
patient two thirds of a cupful of the tea. Then
administer an injection according to the directions
under that head. As soon as the injection has
done operating, administer the vapor bath accord-
ing to the directions on the preceding page, giving
the composition tea two or three times while
steaming. After the patient has remained in the
bath fifteen or twenty minutes, he should be wiped
jog A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
dry, put on his shirt and get into bed, and a
steaming brick be put to his feet. He is then
ready for the administration of the lobelia.
ADMINISTERING LOBELIA.
Put one tea-spoonful of the seed of lobelia, and
two of the herb, well pulverized, into a cup, add
one tea-spoonful of Cayenne, one of nerve powder,
and a few drops of the oil of sassafras, and fill
the cup with hot water. After it settles, give four
tea-spoonfuls of the tea once in ten minutes until
the patient vomits freefy ; give in the mean time
half a cupful of the tea from the pitcher or penny-
royal tea once in five minutes. If the patient is
sick at the stomach and does not vomit, give half
a cupful of the tea from the pitcher, with a Jittle
saleratus in it. After the patient has vomited
once, give porridge and pennyroyal tea freely. If
the quantity of lobelia mentioned above does not
produce vomiting and nausea, add a tea-spoonful
of the seed to the sediment, fill it up with hot
water, and give the tea of it at one dose. After
the vomiting is over and the stomach well settled,
another injection should be administered, after
which the patient should be steamed a second
time, and washed over with cold water, if there
be sufficient heat in the system to produce a
re-action. After the course is completed, he may
eat a light meal, and if the weather is very mild
and pleasant he can go out ; if not, he should
remain within doors.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 127
CHAPTER X.
THE TREATMENT OF DIFFERENT MANIFESTATIONS OP
DISEASE.
Having arrived at the knowledge of what dis-
ease is, its cause, the indications necessary to be
accomplished, and the means to be used to accom-
plish those indications, we have now to point out
the particular circumstances or symptoms requiring
the accomplishment of each of these indications,
and the mode of applying the remedy. This we
shall endeavor to do in a manner so plain and
simple, that any person may not be at a loss to
know what course to pursue in any form of
disease.
A large proportion of the different forms of
disease depends on constriction or spasm, either
general or local, producing an obstruction of the
secretions, and a retention of the morbific impuri-
ties of the system. The cause is cold, or any
irritating substance applied to, or taken into the
system. The result is local or general excitement,
usually termed fever or inflammation. Other
forms of disease depend on relaxation, paralysis,
injuries, or change in structure of some organ.
Notwithstanding the general adaptedness of " a
course of medicine," as described in this work, for
the cure of every form of disease, yet some of the
different manifestations of disease may require a
modification of the treatment, so as to accomplish
the object sooner and with less suffering and
inconvenience to the patient ; we shall therefore
give a particular description of such forms of
disease and their symptoms and peculiar treat-
ment.
13*
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
FEVER.
This manifestation of disease is but the effect
of an effort of nature to expel from the system
some irritating substance. Its division into colors
and classes is unnecessary, as these different
symptoms are but the same cause acting on differ-
ent organs. The usual symptoms are pain in the
head, back and limbs ; full, quick pulse ; chilli-
ness, succeeded by a preternatural degree of heat
on the surface ; thirst j tongue coated, and general
weakness.
Treatment. — In the first stages, a full course
of medicine is the best process to remove the
cause of fever. If this fails to remove the cause,
and the pulse is full and quick, and the surface hot
and dry, give a half tea-spoonful of crawley root in
some warming tea once an hour, and bathe the
surface in saleratus water, nearly cold, every two
hours. Give an injection once in two hours until
free perspiration appears on the surface, after which
rub with a dry woollen cloth once an hour, and
change the sheets twice a day. If this course
fails to produce perspiration, put two tea-spoonfuls
of the emetic powder into a cup of hot water, and
give two tea-spoonfuls of the tea every half hour
until vomiting is produced. If there is a coldness
of the surface or extremities, steam freely and
add a tea-spoonful of Cayenne to the emetic
powder, and continue its use until the surface be-
comes warm and moist, and the pulse regular. In
some forms of fever there appears to be a paralyza-
tion of the nervous system, as in putrid fever,
where the common portions of medicine will have
no effect j in which cases, give the anti-spasmodic
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 129
tincture in great spoonful doses, by injection and
into the stomach, until free vomiting is produced.
In the treatment of fever, as well as in every
other form of disease, the quantity and power of
the medicine should depend on the obstinacy of
the disease. The indications to be accomplished
in all colors and forms of fever, are to produce a
free, easy and general perspiration, and maintain
it ; and to remove obstructions from every part of
the system. If pennyroyal or catmint tea will do
this, it is all that is required, — but stop not short
of giving a pound of lobelia, and other things in
proportion, until you have accomplished those ob-
jects. Many Thomsonian physicians fail to cure
fevers, by depending on fixed potions of medicine,
or going through a certain process as directed by
some medical author : instead of keeping in view
the object for which the medicine is given, and
persevering until that object is accomplished. We
would therefore urge upon all who undertake to
cure fever, especially of the typhoid type, to
pursue a thorough course of treatment in the early
stage, and they will seldom fail of success. If
friends object, let them take the responsibility and
manage the case in their own way. Suffer no
one to take charge of the patient who is not
friendly to the medicine, if it can be possibly
avoided, or you will be disappointed in the result.
Caution should be used, after the cause is removed,
that the patient does not take cold or over-load
the stomach and bring on a relapse, which is
always more difficult to overcome than the first
attack. After the fever abates, and the coating
comes off the tongue, give a tea-spoonful of the
spiced bitters three times a day.
130 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
SSf!*.\3
AGUE AND FEVER.
The first symptoms of this form of disease are —
general debility, loss of appetite, more or less dis-
tress at the pit of the stomach, obstructed perspi-
ration, restlessness and languor, aching in the back
and limbs, and increased sensibility to cold.
The cold stage, or chill. — The chill comes on
with a coldness along the back, and an irresistible
desire to yawn and stretch. There is a general
coldness and contracted state of the skin, and a
sensation down the back as from the trickling of
cold water. The jaws begin to quiver or chatter,
and a general shivering takes place over the whole
body ; which, in some instances, continues but a
few minutes, and in others for several hours. The
chill is succeeded by flashes of heat, which con-
tinue to increase until the fever is fully developed.
Distressing vomiting often occurs at this period.
The re-action, or hot stage. — In this stage of
the disease the countenance becomes flushed, and
the skin dry and hot ; the pulse rises and becomes
full and strong ; there is pain in the head, back
and extremities, and not unfrequently more or less
delirium. The duration of the fever varies in
different cases, but finally effects a crisis by a
restoration of the secretions from the skin arid
kidneys, and thus terminating in
The sweating stage, or crisis. — As perspiration
takes place, the breathing becomes less difficult ;
the pulse softens, and a general abatement of all
the distressing symptoms takes place. These three
stages form what is called a paroxysm of the fever,
which occur every day, every other day, or once
in three days, and generally about the same hour
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. J3J
of the day — the patient remaining tolerably com-
fortable between the paroxysms.
Treatment. — The indications of cure are to aid
nature in her efforts to expiel from the system
morbific matter on which the disease depends.
To do this, administer a full and thorough course
of Thomsonian medicine, commencing an hour or
two before the time at which the chill comes on.
Bathe the surface with the stimulating liniment
after the last steaming. Then take a tea-spoon
twice full of Cayenne, and as much bayberry and
golden seal, and steep it in a pint of hot water, and
take half a cupful once in three hours, and four
of the pills No. 1, at bed time. Avoid for a short
time any exposure to damp or cold air — live tem-
perately— exercise moderately, and bathe the sur-
face every morning in cold water if the weather
be warm, or Cayenne and vinegar if it be cold.
If, after this process, there are any symptoms indi-
cating a return of the disease, take another course
of medicine, and repeat every day until the symp-
toms entirely disappear.
ABORTION.
The premature expulsion of the foetus has be-
come quite common among those who, though
they designedly use no means to produce it, yet
their habits of compressing the chest or tight
lacing does do so, and still more so among those
who resort to poisons to accomplish that object.
Language cannot portray the wickedness of the
latter, or folly of the former. Says Dr. Curtis,
" Of the multitudes that have sunk under the pre-
mature expulsion of the foetus, the dark and silent
regions of the grave alone contain the record. I
132 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
have no doubt that if all who have thus committed
suicide, could array themselves before us, the
effect would be insupportable to the most hardened
feelings of our nature."
Other causes than those mentioned tend to pro-
duce abortion, such as falls, reaching too high,
frights, lifting, .hard labor, grief, &c. The usual
symptoms are pain in the back, loins, and lower
part of the abdomen, chills, nausea, flowing and
palpitation of the heart.
Treatment. — In this case, the old adage is em-
phatically applicable, that " an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure." Let those who are
expecting to become mothers, whose habits of
compressing the chest predisposes them to an
abortion, take one or two courses of medicine to
relax the muscles of the abdomen, and two of the
pills No. 1, at night. When the symptoms of
abortion are exhibited, take freely of composition,
and put a jug of warm water at the feet. If this
does not relieve, take a full course of medicine,
which, if it has not progressed too far, will pre-
vent it ; if so, it will assist nature to expel the
foetus, the life of which has now become extinct in
consequence of the detachment of the placenta ;
after which take the Female Restorative three
times a day before eating, and two of the pills No.
1, at night.
AGUE IN THE FACE.
The face on one side, or both, frequently be-
comes swollen and exceedingly painful, depending
on decayed or ulcerated teeth or a cold.
Treatment. — Inhale the steam of Cayenne and
vinegar, and tie up a tea-spoonful of Cayenne in a
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 133
thin rag and put it between the gum and cheek,
and it will produce a free discharge of saliva,
which usually affords relief. If this does not
remove the pain and swelling, a full course of
medicine should be resorted to.
ASTHMA AND PHTHISIC.
The symptoms of these forms of disease are,
difficulty of breathing, which generally comes on
towards night, tightness across the chest, together
with a peculiar wheezing, being frequently threat-
ened with immediate suffocation on attempting to
lie down. Towards morning the symptoms abate,
and the patient feels much easier. At other times
the symptoms are so mild as to subject the patient
to little inconvenience, and in children it is usually
called phthisic.
Treatment. — Haifa tea-spoonful of tincture lo-
belia, or half tea-spoonful of skunk cabbage, repeat-
ed as occasion requires, in half a cupful of penny-
royal tea, will usually afford immediate relief.
For a permanent cure, take two or three full
courses of medicine in as many days, after which
take spiced bitters, composition, and pills No. 1,
according to directions, for two or three weeks.
ABSCESS AND BOILS.
An abscess or boil is produced by an effort of
nature to throw from the system morbific matter.
Treatment. — Apply a poultice of slippery elm,
lobelia and a little soft soap, which will soon bring
it to a head. When it is fit for opening, which
may be known by the thinness of the skin in the
most prominent part of it, it should be punctured
with a lancet or some sharp-pointed instrument.
134 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
BLEEDING FROM THE NOSE.
The blood-vessels of the nose are more easily
ruptured than in any other part of the system ;
when, therefore, there is a determination of blood
to the head, or any external violence, a profuse
discharge sometimes takes place.
Treatment. — Immerse the feet in warm water,
and drink freely of composition or pennyroyal tea
to equalize the circulation ; and it will soon cease.
BLEEDING FROM THE LUNGS AND STOMACH.
These are usually considered dangerous forms of
disease ; but their danger depends on other symp-
toms. If there are other symptoms of consump-
tion, bleeding from the lungs is difficult to cure.
Treatment. — A strong tea of witch hazel leaves
will usually check bleeding from the lungs or
stomach. If this does not check it, give a tea-
spoonful of composition once in fifteen minutes,
and immerse the feet in hot water. After giving
composition two or three times, add half a tea-
spoonful of anti-spasmodic tincture to the same,
and continue it until vomiting is produced. No
danger need be apprehended in taking an emetic
of lobelia. I have given them repeatedly in these
cases with the happiest result.
BRUISES OR INJURIES FROM BLOWS OR FALLS
If the injury be not very severe, bathing with
cold water, hot drops, or wormwood moistened
with spirits, and taking a tea-spoonful of composi-
tion, is all that is required. But if very severe,
the vapor bath should be immediately adminis-
tered, with a free use of composition, which is far
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 135
preferable to bleeding. If the patient is injured
so as to be insensible, put down the throat or give
by injection a great spoonful of anti-spasmodic
tincture, which will restore sensibility. In some
cases, a thorough course of medicine ought to be
administered.
BURNS OR SCALDS.
The best application that can be made to burns
or scalds, when first done, is cold water. Take a
cloth wet in cold water, and wrap several thick-
nesses round or lay on the part, to be wet as often
as the pain returns. Give warm medicine inter-
nally. If the skin is broken, apply a poultice of
slippery elm, wet with raspberry leaf tea.
CANCER.
Cancer usually seats upon the fleshy portions
of the system, as the breast, lip, &c. It com-
mences with a small hard bunch, gradually in-
creasing, attended with sharp, lancinating pains, as
though needles were being run through it. It
sometimes continues in this way a number of
years, at other times it proceeds rapidly to ulcer-
ation, discharging a thin, acrimonious fluid, cor-
roding and destroying the contiguous parts.
Treatment. — If suppuration has not already
commenced, the sorrel salve or the dried juice of
wood sorrel should be applied ; or if this fail to
produce suppuration, the caustic potash, prepared
by burning red oak bark to ashes, in a stove or on
a clean hearth, drain boiling water through them
till the strength is obtained ; boil the lye to the
consistence of brown sugar. Keep it in a glass-
stopped bottle, as it destroys cork. Put some on
14
136 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
the cancer for fifteen minutes. If it smarts much,
sponge it with vinegar ; wash it off with warm
soap suds, made of Castile soap. The cancer
plaster mentioned in this work should then be
applied. Then poultice with lobelia, slippery
elm, and catmint. After which apply the elder
salve. Courses of medicine should be frequently
given, and a syrup of pipsissiway, sarsaparilla, and
yellow dock root taken freely.
CHICKEN POX.
This eruption is usually preceded by feverish
symptoms. About the second or third day, the
pimples become filled with a watery fluid, which
is never converted into yellow matter as in the
small pox j and about the fifth day, they usually
dry away, and are formed into crusts or scabs.
Treatment. — Give composition or saffron and
snake root tea, which is all the medicine that is
usually required in this form of disease. Should
the constitution of the patient be so feeble that the
eruption is not well thrown out, a course of medi-
cine should be administered, and repeated if
necessary.
COLIC.
This form of disease is attended with severe
pain in the bowels, nausea, and sometimes vomit-
ing, and distention of the stomach. It is usually
occasioned by some acrid substance taken into or
generated in the stomach, such as unripe fruit,
vitiated bile or gas, undigested food, &c.
: Treatment. — Some cases require thorough treat-
ment. Nothing will afford relief so quick as
enemas, which should be given every ten minutes
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 137
until relief is obtained ; then cleanse the syringe,
and administer a pint of slippery elm tea by in-
jection, to soothe the bowels. It is sometimes
necessary to give a full course of medicine. Mild
cases may be cured by taking a tea-spoonful of,
composition, hot drops, or some aromatic tea. A
few drops of anti-spasmodic tincture in pepper-
mint tea, is excellent.
CONSUMPTION.
Pulmonary consumption is characterized byj
emaciation, debility, cough, hectic fever, and pu-
rulent expectoration, night sweats, &c. One writer
enumerates thirty different species of consump-j
tion ; but this enumeration seems unnecessary for
practical purposes. When one lobe is affected,1
the disease is very slow in its progress, often last-
ing for many years ; but when the substance of j
both lungs is affected, the disease progresses rapid-
ly, commonly called the galloping consumption. :
This disease has prevailed extensively from the
earliest periods of history to the present time, and
has swept more from the earth than the sword or
famine. In all northern climates it commits the
most terrible ravages. A writer, some years
since, computed that out of a population of eleven
millions, in the island of Great Britain, fifty-five
thousand annually died of the consumption ; and
the same fatality attends the disease in this
climate. I presume one third of all those who
die in this country are taken off by pneumonic
diseases, or affections of the lungs ; all which
shows not only the prevalence and fatality of the
complaint, but likewise the inefficacy of the vari-
ous methods of treatment, including the vast
number of boasted nostrums of the day, with
138 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
which the community are now so shamefully de-
ceived and imposed upon.
A consumptive taint may be transmitted from
parents to children, and produce a development
of the disease at different periods of their lives,
owing to those circumstances which are calculated
to call this consumptive predisposition into action.
A whole family has enjoyed comparative good
health, till a certain period of life, when, upon a
sudden attack of severe cold, or some other excit-
ing cause, consumption has supervened and proved
fatal to all ; no doubt, some such case has come
under the observation of the reader.
Among the remote causes, we may enumerate
the particular formation of the body; such as
prominent shoulders, narrow chests, &c.; scrofu-
lous habit, bronchitis, pneumonia scrofula, and the
sequel of eruptive diseases ; particular employ-
ments, exposing the person to inhalation of dusty
particles of matter, and fumes of metals and mine-
rals; sedentary life, depressing passions, great
evacuations, intemperance, nursing of infants too
long, and whatever else induces debility ; tight
lacing, which serves to compress the chest and
circumscribe the action of the pulmonary mus-
cles ; and lastly, the application of cold to the
body, when in a state of perspiration, which is by
far the most common of all causes ; which shows
the danger of the ball-room, where exercise is per-
formed till the pores are opened, and suddenly
closed by the application of cold, which ends in
consumption; nearly every patient who applies-
for medical aid, in speaking of the cause of his
disease, refers to the time when he experienced a
sudden check of perspiration, and dates it from
that period.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. jgg
I may also mention those positions of the body
which oblige the person to continue long in a
stooping posture, as at the desk, in the manufac-
ture of shoes, factories, sewing, &c.; also such
employments as keep the hands and feet unnatu-
rally cold. j
The proximate or immediate cause may be
ascribed to irritation on the delicate coat of the
lungs, producing organic change or lesion of their
structure, subsequently inducing tubercles or
ulcers. There is a deleterious agent or fluid
carried to this organ, which all of us daily receive
into the system in our food and drink, instead of
being carried off by the excretory vessels of the
system. As an evidence of this, we find that as
soon as a person whose lungs are weak, or who is
predisposed to consumption, experiences a check
of perspiration, or to use a common expression,
takes cold, he immediately feels an irritation on
the lungs, and begins to cough. This demon-
strates that there is an offending matter, or nox-
ious agent, which should be carried off by per-
spiration ; hence the importance of keeping up a
uniform determination to the surface, in order to
preserve health. j
Treatment. — It is generally supposed that pul-
monary consumption is incurable. But the suc-
cess of the Thomsonian practice in curing this
form of disease, goes to prove that in many cases
it can be cured. The patient, in order to be cured,
must be willing to pursue strictly the prescribed
course ; denying himself of every indulgence that
is injurious, and faithfully attending to every pre-
scription calculated to benefit him. \
It is generally necessary to administer two or
three courses of medicine iu a week, after having
14*
140 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
prepared the system for them hy taking warming
medicines a number of days previously. Between
the courses, take one of the pills No. 1, every four
hours, and the composition and spiced bitters ac-
cording to the directions under the head of com-
pounds.
A proper regard to diet, exercise and air, is very
important in consumptive cases. The food should
consist of coarse wheat bread, rice, ripe fruit, &c.,'
eaten at regular meals only, and regular exercise
in the open air, if the strength and weather per-'
mit. An effort should be made to exercise as
much as possible, as many persons have been
cured by a persevering effort of this kind. The
surface should be bathed all over twice a day in
cold water, if there be sufficient vitality to produce
re-action ; or if not, brandy and water, followed
by friction with a coarse towel fifteen or twenty
minutes. The feet should be protected from wet
and cold.
CHOLERA MORBUS, DIARRHOEA, AND DYSENTERY.
These forms of disease are considered some-
what different ; but the same method of treatment
may be properly applied to each. In the first
stages, or in mild attacks, the diarrhoea powder or
syrup taken according to directions will effect a
cure. If the attack is severe, a full course of
medicine should be given, followed up by in-
jections, containing a large proportion of slippery
elm, every half hour, until relief is obtained. For
children, a tea of slippery elm and loaf sugar
should be given freely ; also the diarrhoea powders,
and injections of hemlock bark.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 141
CONVULSIONS OR FITS.
Fits are occasioned by an effort of nature to
overcome some obstruction. j
Treatment. — In cases of fits of every descrip-
tion, an injection should be administered, com-
posed of slippery elm and anti-spasmodic tincture,
in quantity according to age and severity of the
attack, as soon as possible. If the jaws are locked,
put some of the anti-spasmodic tincture into the
back part of the mouth, and they will soon be-
come relaxed, then give a great suoonful in some
kind of warming tea. In order to effect a perma-
nent cure, full courses of medicine should be
resorted to, with a constant stimulant and tonic
treatment. Regard should also be had to diet and
exercise in the open air, which are a sine qua non
in the cure of all cases.
CORNS.
To cure these troublesome consequences of
tight shoes, avoid the first cause, or wear shoes
sufficiently large for the foot, and wear a piece of
India rubber over the corn, and a cure is certain.
CROUP.
This heretofore frightful form of disease, which
has ever baffled the skill of the faculty, and proved
so almost universally fatal under their treatment,
is generally too well known in this country, from
unpleasant experience and observation, to need
much explanation by way of description, for every
American mother must sooner or later have wit-
nessed more or less cases. It is a form of disease
peculiar to children, and has seldom or never been
142 A GUIDE TO HEALTH
known to attack a person who has arrived at years
of puberty. It mostly attacks infants, who are
suddenly seized with difficulty of breathing, attend-
ed with a rattling noise — and like a multiplicity
of other forms of disease, is caused by the appli-
cation of cold, or, which is synonymous, a loss of
the requisite quantity of heat for maintaining a
healthy action in the animal economy, and conse-
quently occurs more frequently in the winter and
spring than in other seasons. In cases of croup,
the mucous membrane of the trachea or windpipe
becomes greatly inflamed, which induces a great
secretion of a very tenacious coagulated lymph or
mucous matter in the windpipe and bronchial ves-
sels, which greatly impedes respiration, and if not
relieved, in most cases will sooner or later prove
fatal by suffocation, or total obstruction of the
respiratory organs.
Treatment. — In treating croup, thorough, and
sometimes often-repeated emetics should never be
neglected, as they are almost the only prescription
upon which much reliance can be placed ; and
lobelia is undoubtedly the most safe and effectual
for this purpose of any thing known. It may be
administered in powder or in an infusion, and in
cases in which children are obstinate in taking
medicine, the latter is preferable. A sufficient
quantity should be given in all cases, to produce a
thorough evacuation of the stomach, as there is
little or no danger from the size of the dose, as no
more will be used in the stomach than is necessary
to produce the requisite cleansing and evacuation,
the excess being thrown off as useless. The
tincture or infusion of lobelia may be continued
in small doses of a tea-spoonful or so, after the
stomach has been well cleansed and evacuated,
A GUTDE TO HEALTH. 143
and it will produce an excellent effect of arousing
action in the stomach, loosening the viscid secre-
tions upon tho mucous membrane of the trachea
or windpipe, promote expectoration, and allay the
inflammation which usually accompanies and par-
ticularly affects the bronchial vessels. If the
emetic in cases of croup does not operate freely and
effectually, enemas or injections, well charged with
tincture or third preparation, should be repeated
until the stomach is effectually cleansed from all
impurities. The child during the operation of the
medicine should, if possible, be made to perspire
freely, which may be done by feeding it with
warm herb drinks and composition tea, by warm
bathing, putting warm bricks or boiled blocks
about the child in the cradle or bed.
CATARRH IN THE HEAD.
The glands and membranes of the head secrete
a fluid to keep the mouth, nose and eyes moist,
which sometimes become obstructed, causing a
flow from the nostrils, makes the eyes tender, irri-
tates the nose and occasions sneezing, or falls into
the throat and windpipe, and causes coughing,
and, if long continued, the consumption.
Treatment. — Take one or two full courses of
medicine, then use the catarrh snuff mentioned in
this work. Dr. Beach recommends the following-
remedy : " Take common sage a table-spoonful,
black pepper a tea-spoonful ; pulverize, and smoke
two or three pipes during the day, and force the
smoke through the nose." Dr. Leavitt, of New
York, recommends a snuff of blood root, gum
arabic, and gum myrrh, equal parts, pulverized.
144 1A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
CHILBLAINS.
These are painful swellings, attended with in-
tolerable itching, which make their appearance on
the hands, feet, nose, ears, and lips, in cold
weather.
Treatment. — Bathe frequently in the rheumatic
drops, and apply the meadow-fern ointment. If
there is much pain or inflammation, apply the elm
poultice.
COLDS AND COUGHS.
The application of cold to the body, giving a
check to perspiration, is the general cause of these
complaints. A cold is usually attended with dif-
ficulty of breathing, a sense of fulness and stop-
ping in the nose, head-ache, cough, &c.
Treatment. — Take a tea-spoonful of composi-
tion and two of the pills No. 1, at night, which
will generally cure. If the cough should con-
tinue troublesome, take the cough drops or pow-
ders mentioned in this work. Should these fail
to break up the cold, take a full course of medi-
cine and avoid exposure for a few days, and a
cure is certain.
COSTIVENESS.
Costiveness is generally occasioned by improper
food and sedentary habits ; and the best remedy
is to take active exercise in the open air, and live
principally on coarse wheat bread, fruit, rye pud-
ding, &c.; avoiding tea, coffee, fine flour bread,
and physic.
; A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 145
DIABETES.
The diabetes is an excessive, frequent, and
sometimes an involuntary flow of urine. It is
accompanied with great debility, costiveness, vora-
cious appetite, emaciation, &c.
Treatment. — The most important indication in
this form of disease is to increase the action of the
skin and produce free perspiration. For this pur-
pose the vapor bath should be frequently used, and
the sudorific powders taken at night. The spiced
bitters should be taken three times a day, and the
surface bathed in Cayenne and vinegar every
morning. If the patient is advanced in years and
the constitution broken down, if the course pre-
scribed above does not cure, it may be considered
incurable. But if young and tolerably healthy in
other respects, apply thorough courses of medicine
until a cure is effected.
DELIRIUM TREMENS.
This horrid disease is confined principally to
those who are addicted to the free use of ardent
spirits. The patient imagines he is surrounded
by robbers, reptiles, or wild animals, and flies to
the door or window to escape. His hands become
tremulous, and he is restless and talkative.
Treatment. — A full course of medicine should
be administered, steaming the patient in bed with
heated stones wrapped in a damp cloth, placed at
the feet and back. Give frequently of valerian or
scullcap tea during its operation. The injections
should be repeated and their strength increased,
until the patient is quiet and inclined to sleep. It
is found that kind treatment is much more sue-
146 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
cessful in restoring the patient than violence, as is
usually the case under all other circumstances.
DROPSY.
Dropsy is an accumulation of watery fluid in
the cellular membrane, or any of the cavities of
the body. It is caused by a weakness of the ab-
sorbent vessels, which are unable to take up the
fluid and discharge it from the system through
the natural channels.
Treatment. — In the early stages, this form of
disease may be cured by a free use of the diuretic
syrup, stimulating conserve and pills No. 2, with a
vapor bath occasionally. But in the more ad-
vanced stages, full courses of medicine are required,
repeated once or twice a week. The patient
should avoid drinking much, and live principally
on dry food.
DISLOCATIONS AND FRACTURES.
Simple fractures or dislocations may be reduced
by any person of common mechanical ingenuity.
The first object is to relax the muscles. The
world is indebted to Dr. Thomson for the best
mode of accomplishing this object. He directs
the patient to take a dose of Cayenne and valerian,
to promote perspiration, &c. Then wet a large
cloth in hot water, and apply as hot as can be
borne, around the injured part, and for some dis-
tance above and below it. 'This being done, hold
a vessel under, and pour on water as hot as can
be applied without pain, and so continue for fifteen
or twenty minutes, when the cloth must be taken
off, and the bone or bones placed in their proper
position. If the case be a broken bone, it must
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 147
be splintered ; but if it be a joint out of place,
nothing more will be necessary than to pour cold
water on the part, which will contract the muscles
and keep the bone in its proper position. Lobelia
taken in broken doses, will also produce relaxation
of the muscles, and is often very necessary in
dislocation or fracture of large bones. Difficult
cases of this kind will, of course, require the aid
of experienced surgeons.
DYSPEPSIA, OR INDIGESTION.
This form of disease may depend on any cause
tending to produce weakness or inaction of the
stomach, or obstruction in the secretion of gastric
juice or bile. It is usually attended with pain
after eating, costiveness, emaciation, colic, lowness
of spirits, languor, &c.
Treatment. — The symptoms attending this form
of disease may be relieved by medicine, but the
cure can alone be effected by proper diet and ex-
ercise. The anti-dyspeptic powders will relieve
the pain and soreness of the stomach after eating ;
pills No. 2 and injections should be used for the
costiveness, and a course of medicine occasionally,
to throw off the morbid accumulations, and stimu-
late the different organs to action. The diet
should be simple, avoiding tea, coffee, butter, pork,
and use but little meat of any kind. The coarse
wheat bread is one of the very best articles of
food in the complaint. Pour or five hours' active
exercise in the open air should be taken every day,
and the whole body bathed in cold water every
morning, followed by brisk friction with a coarse
towel. Sedentary occupation should be given up,
and those more in accordance with the laws of
nature substituted.
15
148 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
ERYSIPELAS, OR ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE.
This form of disease sometimes attacks all parts
of the body, but is usually confined to the face
and extremities. The inflammation appears in a
small spot, and gradually spreads to a greater or
less extent over the surrounding surface. When
confined to the face, the symptoms are sometimes
violent, swelling so as to close the eye-lids. On
the fourth or fifth day, blisters of different sizes
make their appearance on the inflamed surface,
containing a clear and watery fluid which after-
wards becomes of a straw color and more or less
glutinous. In twenty -four or forty-eight hours
the blisters break, when the redness and swelling
begin to subside, and the adjacent cuticle peals oft'
in the form of scales.
Ti°eatment. — In mild cases of this form of dis-
ease, a tea of meadow fern, taken freely and used
for bathing, is all that is required. In more severe
cases, composition and injections should be used,
and if necessary a full course of medicine, repeat-
ed as occasion may require. A poultice of slip-
pery elm will soothe the irritation and relieve the
pain.
EAR-ACHE.
Children are peculiarly liable to this distress-
ing form of disease, occasioned by exposure to
cold and dampness, or an abscess forming in the
ear.
Treatment. — The ear-ache may be relieved by
steaming the side of the head, and using the warm
foot bath. The heart of a roasted onion, put into
the ear as hot as it can be borne, will generally
relieve. Syringing the ear with warm soap-suds
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 149
will sometimes relieve the pain. A bath of hops,
simmered in vinegar and applied warm, has been
found very beneficial.
FALLING OF THE FUNDAMENT.
This is often met with in children, occasioned
by debility and relaxation of the parts.
Treatment. — It should be gently replaced with
the fingers, smeared in lard or sweet oil. If inflam-
mation and swelling have taken place, so that it
cannot be easily returned, steam the part and poul-
tice with slippery elm. Injections of hemlock,
witch hazel or sumach will be found useful to
strengthen the debilitated parts. The bowels
should be kept free.
FELONS AND WHITLOWS.
Felons and whitlows are very painful, being
an inflammation of the covering membrane of the
bone, and usually attack the finger joints.
Treatment. — As soon as matter forms, an in-
cision may be made with a lancet to let it out.
Dr. Thomson recommends burning a piece of
punk the size of a pea on the affected part, cover-
ing the other portions of the finger with a cloth
or napkin wetted with cold water. The burning
may be repeated, if necessary ; and the pain, it is
said, is very slight. As soon as the vitality of the
skin is destroyed, it is to be punctured with a
needle, slightly elevated, and a small portion of it
cut away, so that the pus may escape. This
accomplished, the elm and ginger poultice may be
applied as on any other sore.
150 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
FLUOR ALBUS, OR WHITES,
Is so called from its appearance, which, though
at first it is generally milky, sometimes changes to
green, yellow or even brown, shows itself in an
irregular discharge from the uterus and vagina.
It is often attended with severe pain in the back
and loins, weakness, loss of appetite, dejection of
spirits, paleness and chilliness, and sometimes by
difficult respiration, palpitations, faintings, and
swelling of the lower extremities.
Treatment. — Full courses of medicine should
be administered twice a week, and the composi-
tion and pills No. 1 intermediately, with injections
"per vaginam" of a strong tea of witch hazel, and
the female restorative three times a day, until a
cure is effected. '
GOUT.
This is a very painful form of disease, generally
attacking the small joints. It usually attacks men
who indulge in high living, and lead a sedentary
life. A celebrated physician recommended to a
person afflicted with the gout, that he live upon a
sixpence a day, and earn it. Attacks of this com-
plaint rarely occur before the age of thirty-five or
forty.
Treatment. — The affected part should be
bathed with the stimulating liniment, and full
courses of medicine repeated until relief is obtain-
ed. The elm poultice should also be used.
GRAVEL, OR STONE.
The formation of small, sand-like concretions
in the passage from the kidneys is called the
gravel; but if they are formed of so large size
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 151
that they cannot pass the ureters, or urethra, it is
called the stone. The gravel often afflicts aged
persons ; the stone, children from infancy to fifteen
years of age. They are attended with fixed pain
in the loins or small of the back, sometimes
shooting down the thighs, numbness of the thigh
or leg on the side affected, frequent disposition to
pass water, which flows in a small quantity,
sometimes attended with a discharge of bloody
urine.
Treatment. — The best article we have ever
used as a solvent for the stone, is queen of the
meadow root and cleavers, a strong decoction,
drunk freely. The diuretic syrup will usually
afford relief. In violent paroxysms of pain,
fomentations should be applied to the painful part,
of hops and wormwood, and a full course of
medicine given. I knew an instance where the
stone was passed with the water while in the
steam box, and a cure immediately effected. I
Persons afflicted with the gravel or stone, should
avoid the use of fermented liquors, such as cider,
beer, and especially wines, and all sour sub-
stances ; at the same time giving preference to
soft, instead of hard water.
INFLAMMATION OF ANY INTERNAL ORGAN OR
MEMBRANE.
In all cases of internal, local inflammation, the'
great object to be accomplished is to equalize the
circulation, which the faithful administration of,
full courses of medicine seldom fails to accom-
plish ; fomentations should be applied to the part
affected, of wormwood, hops and tansy, wet in
vinegar. The intermediate treatment should be
'the spiced bitters three times a day, and composi-
15*
152 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
tion at night, with the daily use of injections. If
costive, take two of the pills No. 2, at night. A
free use should be made of a tea of slippery elm,
and milk porridge should be the principal article
of diet. Chronic inflammations can only be cured
by a proper regulation of the diet, exercise, bath-
ing, &c.
EXTERNAL INFLAMMATION.
All cases of external inflammation should be
bathed often in weak lye water, or a tea of mea-
dow fern, and poulticed with the elm poultice,
omitting the ginger. If very violent, the same
course should be pursued as in internal inflamma-
tion.
JAUNDICE.
This form of disease is characterized by yellow-
ness of the skin, drowsiness, pain in the right
side, clay-colored stools, &c. It is occasioned by
an obstruction of the bile in its passage through
the biliary ducts into the duodenum ; it is absorb-
ed, going into the circulation, rendering the blood
impure, and deranging the operations of all the
organs.
Treatment. — The spiced bitters, composition,
and pills No. 2, taken according to the directions
under the head of each, will almost invariably
cure jaundice. If they should fail, two or three
courses of medicine should be taken in connection
with the above-named articles.
MEASLES.
This form of disease is attended with feverish
symptoms, hoarseness, vomiting, swelling and
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 153
redness of eyes, a hoarse, dry cough, drowsiness,
sneezing, and a thin, watery discharge from the
eyes and nose. The tongue is covered with a
white coat, and the breath very offensive. On the
third or fourth day, the eruption makes its appear-
ance about the face and forehead. It consists of
small, red spots, which run into each other and
form patches, which begin to disappear in three or
four days.
Treatment. — In mild cases, all that is necessary,
is to give composition, or saffron and snake-root
tea, to keep the skin moist, with an occasional in-J
jection to open the bowels. If the eruption does
not make its appearance, and the feverish excite-,
ment continues, it will be necessary to give lobe-
lia enough to produce vomiting, and injections
often. The nettle rash, which this resembles,1
should be treated in precisely the same way.
MUMPS.
This form of disease comes on with a swelling,
sometimes on one and sometimes on both sides of
the face and neck, at or near the angle of the
jaws. The glands begin to swell and continue to
enlarge until the fourth day, when the swelling
declines, and in a few days is entirely gone.
Some danger attends this form of disease when
the patient takes cold, transferring the swelling to
the breasts of females and testicles of males.
Treatment. — But little if any medicine is re-
quired in this form of disease unless the patient
take cold, in which case a full course of medicine
should be administered, repeated as often as the
nature of the case requires.
154 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
OBSTRUCTED OR PROFUSE MENSTRUATION.
These forms of disease are characterized by
general debility, pain in the head, coldness of the
extremitieSj palpitation of the heart, &c.
Treatment. — The general treatment for each
of these forms of disease should be precisely the
same, viz. : full courses of medicine to remove
the obstruction and equalize the circulation. In
case of profuse menstruation, give the female re-
storative, a tea-spoonful three times a day, and
inject a strong tea of witch hazel into the vagina.
In obstructed menstruation, in addition to full
courses of medicine, steam frequently and admin-
ister the female powders and pills No. 1, according
to directions.
PARALYSIS OR PALSY.
This form of disease is characterized by loss of
sensibility and motion, generally of the left side,
but sometimes confined to a particular part, as one
or both hands, arms, or legs. It is occasioned by
a loss of nervous energy, in consequence of an
aifection of the brain or spinal marrow, or a com-
pression or injury of the nerves.
Treatment. — Full courses of medicine, com-
bined with stimulating liniment applied to the
part affected, will seldom fail to effect a cure. The
spiced bitters, composition, injections, and pills
No. 1, should be taken daily, according to
directions, and the stimulating liniment applied
twice a day.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
PILES.
These tumors are occasioned by the passage of
hardened faeces, forcing down the blood in the
veins until the lining membrane is ruptured, and
the blood presses out and forms small tumors ;
and when these are ruptured, profuse bleeding
sometimes takes place.
Treatment. — The best remedy we have ever
found for the piles is the pile ointment mentioned
in this work ; it seldom fails to relieve ; injections
should also be used of hemlock bark and slippery
elm ; a tea of mullen should be drunk freely, and
the bowels kept open by using coarse wheat bread,
rye pudding and ripe fruit. Physic of all kinds
should be avoided, and costiveness prevented by
diet and exercise.
PLEURISY.
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the membrane that
lines the internal surface of the chest, commonly
affecting the right side. It is attended with acute
lancinating pain in the side ; hurried and painful
breathing ; a short, dry cough ; the skin dry and
hot ; the pulse hard and frequent ; and the tongue
coated. Inflammation of the pleura is very liable
to produce adhesions between the side of the chest
and lungs ; an occurrence, however, not productive
of much danger or inconvenience. But under
unfavorable circumstances, an abscess is sometimes
formed, which is always attended with more or
less hazard to the patient.
Treatment. — Slight attacks will, in general,
require nothing more than the vapor bath and
warming teas; but in more violent attacks the
156 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
patient should be kept under the influence of
lobelia until relief is obtained. A bath of hops
or a poultice of lobelia and slippery elm may be
applied to the side.
CANKER RASH, PUTRID SORE THROAT, AND
SCARLET FEVER.
These forms of disease combined, have prevail-
ed to an alarming extent in diiferent sections of
New England, consigning to the tomb the fond
hopes of many a devoted parent. Notwithstand-
ing their alarming fatality when treated by the
old school practice of physicing, bleeding and
blistering, they have been almost invariably cured
by the simple remedies of Thomson. The
Thomsonian treatment, as can be proved by sta-
tistical accounts, will cure ninety-nine cases out
of a hundred of scarlet fever and canker rash.
" Thes carlet fever," says Beach, " is so denomi-
nated from the scarlet color and eruptions which
appear on the body. It occurs at all seasons of
the year, but generally in the fall or beginning of
winter.73
i The scarlet fever commences with a chill and
shivering, like other kinds of fever, with nausea
and vomiting, great sickness succeeded by heat,
thirst, and head-ache ; sometimes in a very mild,
degree, at others more violent. The pulse is ac-
celerated, the breathing is frequent or interrupted,
the eyes red, and the eye-lids swollen. In two or
three days the flesh begins to swell, a pricking
sensation is experienced, and an eruption appears
on the body in the form of a red stain or blotch,
or rather of a fiery redness. It usually appears
first upon the face, breast and arms, then over the
whole body, of a uniform red color.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 157
In the progress of the disease, one uniform red-
ness, unattended, however, by any pustular erup-
tion, pervades the face, body, and limbs, which
parts appear somewhat swollen. The eyes and
nostrils partake likewise more or less of the red-
ness, and, in proportion as the former have an
inflamed appearance, so does the tendency to de-
lirium prevail.
Treatment. — Thorough Thomsonian treatment,
judiciously and perseveringly applied, has proved
a certain cure in this form of disease. An emetic
course should be given once or twice a day, with
frequent injections. The surface should be bathed
a number of times in a day with weak lye. Great
care should be taken to prevent taking cold after
the patient begins to recover.
Injections should be administered once in four
hours, and the skin kept moist with a free use of
cayenne and bayberry.
The throat should be frequently gargled with
bayberry tea, or cayenne and vinegar. Mullen
leaves, wet in vinegar, should be applied to the
throat externally, and the entire surface frequently
bathed with meadow-fern tea.
RHEUMATISM.
This form of disease is usually occasioned by
checking perspiration, and is most prevalent when
the weather is damp and variable. The pain is
very acute, and frequently changes from one part
of the system to another.
Treatment. — This form of disease yields readily
to the Thomsonian practice. The patient should
take three or four courses of medicine in as many
days, if the attack is very violent. The part
affected should be bathed with the stimulating
158 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
liniment, and the spiced bitters, composition and
pills No. 1, used according to direction until a cure
is effected. I have no doubt cold water, judiciously
applied, will cure this form of disease ; but I have
never proved it.
R'UPTURE OR HERNIA.
This is a protrusion of a portion of the bowels
or omentum, forming a tumor or sack under the
skin. It generally occurs at the groin and inner
part of the thigh. When the portion of the
bowels becomes confined in the sack by the con-
traction of the orifice, it produces alarming effects,
such as vomiting, pain and stoppage in the bowels,
and if relief is not soon obtained, mortification
takes place. This is called strangulated hernia.
Treatment. — The first object to be accomplish-
ed, is to replace the protruded portion of the
bowels, which may generally be done by pressure
with the fingers, the patient lying on his back,
with his thighs bent upon his body and his head
elevated. A strangulated hernia cannot be return-
ed until the inflammation and swelling are sub-
dued. This can be speedily accomplished by a
full course of medicine, or lobelia taken in small
potions until the system is sufficiently relaxed,
when it may be gently returned.
Dr. Logan, of Pennsylvania, recommends the
application of a strong decoction of white oak
bark to effect a permanent cure for hernia.
SCALD-HEAD.
This eruption usually commences with a brown-
ish spot on some part of the head ; which soon
discharges matter so acrid as to excoriate the skin,
and spreads so as sometimes to entirely cover the
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
head. Children are particularly subject to this
eruption, which is occasioned by improper diet,
uncleanliness, or contagion.
Treatment. — It is necessary to administer two
or three courses of medicine to cleanse the system
from the impurities that occasion the eruption.
First wash the head two or three times a day
with Castile soap, then a strong tea of meadow
fern burs and leaves ; after which apply a poultice
composed of slippery elm, pond lily root, and bay-
berry, using the composition tea internally to favor
perspiration. Particular attention should be paid
to diet, avoiding butter, tea or coffee.
SCROFULA OR KING'S EVIL.
The first appearance of this form of disease is
commonly in small, round, movable tumors under
the skin, without pain or discoloration, generally
in the neck, behind the ears, and under the chin,
which, after a while, suppurate and degenerate into
ulcers, discharging a white matter instead of
healthy pus. It is occasioned by impure air, un-
wholesome food, the use of mercury, or whatever
tends to derange the health.
Treatment. — Thorough courses of medicine are
absolutely necessary in this form of disease. Give
three courses a week, and steam every day ; giving
in the mean time, and following up afterwards
with the spiced bitters, composition, and pills No.
1, according to directions. Bathe the tumors with
stimulating liniment, if there is no inflammation
on the surface ; if inflamed, apply the elm poul-
tice. If ulceration has taken place, wash with
Castile soap suds, and continue the elm poultice
with the addition of pond lily root, until the dis-
charge ceases.
16
160 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
The diet should consist of coarse wheat bread,
rice, ripe fruit, rye pudding, &c., avoiding all
grease, tea, coffee, and fermented or distilled
liquors of all kinds. Perseverance is a very im-
portant requisite in this as well as most other
chronic forms of disease.
SMALL POX.
In this form of disease, the eruption appears at
first in small red spots, hardly prominent, but by
degrees rising into pimples. There are generally
but few on the face ; but even when more numer-
ous, they are separate and distinct from one an-
other. On the fifth or sixth day a small vesicle,
or bladder, containing an almost colorless fluid,
appears on the top of each pimple ; for two days
these vesicles increase in breadth only, and there
is a small pit in their middle, so that they are not
raised into spheroidical or globular pustules or
eruptions, till the eighth day.
As the pustules increase in size, the face swells
considerably, if they are numerous on it ; and the
eyelids particularly are so much swelled, that the
eyes are entirely shut. As the disease proceeds,
the matter in the pustules becomes, by degrees,
first more opaque or cloudy, then white, and then
at length assumes a yellowish color. On the
eleventh day the swelling of the face is abated,
and the pustules seem quite full. On the top of
each a darker spot appears j and at this place the
pustule, on the eleventh day or soon after, is
spontaneously broken, and a portion of the matter
oozes out, in consequence of which the pustule is
shrivelled, and subsides ; while the matter oozing
out dries, and forms a crust upon its surface.
Treatment. — No disease yields more readily to
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
thorough Thomsonian treatment than small pox.
The patient should begin by drinking freely of
composition and cayenne, after which a full course
of medicine should be administered, and an emetic
course with injections as often as the nature of
the case requires. The intermediate treatment
should be composition and raspberry tea, with Cay-
enne No. 2, and injections often administered. The
patient should be in a room where the air can be
kept pure, and should not be suffered to change
from a mild to a cold atmosphere, without due
precaution. His diet should be light, and chiefly
vegetable. If costiveness prevails, injections are
far preferable to cathartics. This course of treat-
ment, with careful nursing, will effect a cure.
SORE OR INFLAMED BREAST.
This form of disease very commonly attacks
females after child-birth, and frequently results in
a broken breast.
Treatment. — Fomentation of bitter herbs and
the elm poultice, with the internal use of compo-
sition, will usually afford immediate relief. Dr.
Barrett, of Norfolk, Va., recommends the following
application :
" Take the kernels of white oak acorns, either
green or dry, (they will keep for years,) pound
them fine, and stew them in hog's lard over a slow
fire, until you get the virtues of the acorn well
incorporated with the lard. Add about lard
enough to cover them, and make it as strong of
the acorns as you well can, then strain and pre-
serve them for use. This is to be applied with
considerable friction two or three times a day, ac-
cording to symptoms, and a piece of soft flannel
162 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
worn over the breast. You may cut a hole in the
flannel, so as to nurse a child without removing it.
" If this is well applied before matter is formed,
it will not fail one time in a hundred to prevent
the breast from rising, whether the child is or is
not nursed. It will soften every hard place, ease
pain, and cause the milk to flow out naturally, so
that the breast in no case will need drawing."
He says, " I have seen and known so many
cases, I speak with confidence."
ST. VITUS' DANCE.
This disease is characterized by the involuntary
action of some of the muscles. The disease first
affects the legs by a kind of lameness, and the
patient drags them after him in an unusual man-
ner, nor can he hold his arms still, but is constant-
ly throwing them about in an ungraceful manner,
which it is impossible for him to avoid.
Treatment. — In the early stages this form of
disease may be cured by a free use of composition
and valerian, half a tea-spoonful of each at night,
and two of the pills No. 1. If this does not cure,
the courses of medicine must be resorted to, which
in combination with nervines and tonics will effect
a cure.
SHINGLES.
This form of disease is characterized by a clus-
ter of blisters on an inflamed surface, commencing
in most instances on the right side of the abdo-
men. It is attended with loss of appetite, lassi-
tude, slight head-ache, nausea, more or less febrile
irritation, together with scalding heat and tingling
in the skin, and shooting pains through the chest
and stomach,
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 163
Treatment. — Take composition and pennyroyal
tea freely, and two of the pills No. 1, at night j
and apply the meadow-fern ointment to the erup-
tion, and it will generally soon disappear.
SUSPENDED ANIMATION FROM DROWNING.
When a person is taken out of the water soon
after drowning, the face exhibits a turgid and livi<J
appearance ; the eyes are open and staring ; the
limbs somewhat stiff; the tongue thrust a little
beyond the teeth ; and the epigastrium tense and
tumid. Under favorable circumstances, life may
be restored even after the heart has ceased to act.
Treatment. — The patient should be taken to a
suitable place and rubbed dry with warm flannels,
and covered warm. The face should be turned
somewhat downward to allow the water to run
out of the mouth, but he should not be handled
roughly. An injection should be administered,
composed of third preparation, cayenne and slip-
pery elm, and a table-spoonful of the same admin-
istered at once, in lukewarm water. No other
means can be employed that are so well calculated
to arouse the nervous influence and excite respira-
tion, as powerful stimulants administered by injec-
tion to the bowels or introduced into the stomach.
The injection should be frequently repeated. Rub
the surface thoroughly in pepper-sauce, and put a
bottle of hot water at the feet. The first symp-
toms that attend returning animation, are twitch-
ing of the muscles about the mouth ; soon follow-
ed by efforts to breathe ; sudden motion of the
limbs ; a small and weak pulse, beating at irregu-
lar intervals ; and a discharge of frothy fluid from
the mouth. As soon as the patient can swallow,
stimulants, such as third preparation of lobelia or
|£4 A «UIDE TO HEALTH.
pepper tea, must be given in small doses frequently
repeated. Yomiting is often induced when anima-
tion is being restored, which is always a favorable
symptom.
Suspended animation from the inhalation of
gas from burning charcoal, or by lightning, or
fainting, should be treated as above directed, if
they do not recover after dashing cold water into
the face, and coming to the air.
TIC DOLOUREUX.
This form of disease, though of rare occurrence,
is probably the most painful of any malady that
feeble nature has to contend with ; and medical
writers generally concur in opinion that nothing
short of an operation, dividing the diseased nerve,
can afford relief. Our experience, however,
though limited, induces us to believe that the
disease will readily yield to proper remedies. It
is characterized by severe paroxysms of pain,
affecting the nerves of the face.
Treatment. — Thorough courses of medicine
will usually cure this form of disease. The worst
case we ever saw, was cured by taking two
thorough courses in twenty-four hours ; no relief
being obtained until after the operation of the
second course, when the patient was entirely easy,
and has not, to our knowledge, had an attack
since.
WOUNDS.
Wounds are divided into incised, or those done
by a sharp instrument, lacerated when done by a
rough instrument, punctured when done by a point-
ed instrument, and poisoned or gun-shot wounds.
Wounds produced by a sharp instrument. — The
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 165
first object is to stop the bleeding. When an
artery is cut, the blood is of a bright scarlet color,
and gushes from the blood-vessel in a jet, with
great force. When a vein is cut, the blood runs
in an even, unbroken stream, and is of a purple-
red color. The bleeding may be stopped with a
pledget of lint rolled up and pressed directly upon
the mouth of the artery. The next object is to
cleanse the wound from all extraneous substances.
The sides of the wound should then be placed
together, and confined by narrow strips of sticking
plaster. Over these strips should be placed a
cushion of soft lint ; and over the whole a bandage
drawn agreeably tight, and making equal pressure.
In lacerated, punctured, and gun-shot wounds,
inflammation sometimes takes place, requiring a
poultice of slippery elm mixed with lye-water.
They require much the same treatment as wounds
produced by a sharp instrument, but are much
more difficult to heal. Caution should be used to
prevent taking cold, as serious consequences some-
times follow, especially in punctured wounds.
WHITE SWELLING.
The white swelling is a common and exceed-
ingly painful disorder. It has been considered
incurable by the faculty, who have frequently
resorted to amputation as the only remedy.
The knee, ankle, wrist, and elbow, are the joints
most subject to white swellings. As the name
of the disease implies, the skin is not at all altered
in color. In some instances, the swelling yields,
in a certain degree, to pressure ; but it never pits,
and is almost always sufficiently firm to make an
uninformed examiner believe that the bones con-
tribute to^the tumor. The pain is sometimes
166 A GUIDE TO HEALTH
vehement from the very first ; in other instances,
there is hardly the least pain in the beginning of
the disease. In the majority of scrofulous white
swellings, let the pain be trivial or violent, it is
particularly situated in one part of the joint, viz.,
either the centre of the articulation, or the head
of the tibia, supposing the knee affected. In some
cases, abscesses form a few months after the first
affection of the joint ; on other occasions, several
years elapse, and no suppuration of this kind makes
its appearance.
Treatment. — Courses of medicine are indispen-
sable in this form of disease. A thorough course
should be administered once a week. During the
intervals the knee should be bathed with the
stimulating liniment, and poulticed with the elm
poultice combined with the sediment of drops No.
6. Composition, spiced bitters, and pills No. 1,
should be taken according to directions. The
diet should consist of coarse wheat bread, rice,
potatoes, ripe fruit, &c., avoiding butter, meat, tea
and coffee, &c.
WHOOPING COUGH
This form of disease usually attacks children,
occurring but once in the same individual. The
cough acquires a peculiar shrill and whooping
sound, in many cases almost producing suffocation.
Treatment. — The bowels should be kept regu-
lar by injections, and the tincture of lobelia used
in small quantities, to keep the cough loose. The
patient should be kept from the evening air, the
feet kept warm and dry, and particular regard paid
to the diet.
PART III.
CHAPTER I.
MIDWIFERY.
THERE is no part of the practice of medicine or
surgery, in which a reform is more loudly called
for, than in that of midwifery. But few are fully
conscious of the unnecessary suffering and de-
struction of human life, produced by the unnatural
interference of male accoucheurs. Were the dic-
tates of nature and the light of reason followed,
instead of the false theories of those who profess
to be learned and wise, the homes of many child-
less parents might now be made cheerful by the
innocent merriment and fond caressing of their
offspring. We do not charge upon the faculty a
disregard for the sufferings of the female sex ; we
know them to be as humane, as benevolent as
others, but a strong inducement is held out to
them to retain this practice under their " exclusive
jurisdiction," when they must know that females
are fully competent and far better adapted to per-
form the office of midwife than males. That strong
inducement is the fee. If this service was to be
done gratuitously, the probability is, physicians
would soon come to the conclusion that their pre-
sence was not necessary at the time of child-birth.
No physician can have failed to notice that his
103 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
introduction into the chamber of parturition pro-
duces an unfavorable change in the patient, that
frequently is not entirely overcome. Do they
argue that females are not competent to officiate as
midwives ? If we search the annals of history,
we shall find that females were the only midwives
until the seventeenth century. It is said that dur-
ing the latter part of the sixteenth century, a phy-
sician in Hamburgh was publicly branded, because
he was induced by curiosity to be present at a
delivery, in female attire. Madame Boivin, the
celebrated lecturer on midwifery, in Paris, has
superintended the delivery of more than twenty
thousand women. Many American women have
devoted their time to the business, with a success
seldom equalled by the other sex. Females who
understand the Thomsonian system, and have
given their attention to the practice of midwifery,
have seldom met with any difficulty. My own
experience and observation compel me to believe
that ninety-nine in a hundred of the cases that are
so very alarming and often fatal to mother or child,
would be comparatively safe and expeditious under
the management of such females. Mrs. Whitney,
formerly of Nashua, has attended many cases with
perfect success and satisfaction to all concerned.
Any other woman may be equally successful, by
obtaining a knowledge of the medicines and the
management of such cases. If women cannot be
obtained who will take the responsibility, let those
husbands who are convinced of the impropriety
of the present practice, inform themselves upon
the subject, and attend upon their own wives.
We know a Methodist minister in Maine, who has
attended upon his wife with eight or nine child-
ren, without any trouble, and we know of many
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 169
others who do the same. We hazard the asser-
tion, unpopular as it may be, that the presence of
a physician is no more necessary to the safe deliv-
ery of ninety-nine cases in a hundred in child-
birth, than it is when a healthy woman is eating
wholesome fruit.
" Females have been made to belie ve, says
Dr. Beach, " that physicians only are competent to
assist them in the hour of child-birth, and that
midwives are incompetent j by which, this branch
of medicine has been very unjustly and improperly
wrested from them, and monopolized by the fac-
ulty. Did females know the ignorance, the un-
timely and rash interference with the unwieldy
hands of doctors, the exposure, the rash attempts
to accomplish delivery, the injury done by bleed-
ing, minerals, ergot, and instruments, — I state, did
they know alt this, the serpentine charm which
now unfortunately deludes them would be broken,
and they would shrink with disgust and horror at
the very thought of employing males in parturi-
tion or child-birth. Nothing but the grossest
ignorance leads them to embrace a practice so
unnatural and revolting. In nearly every case,
nature is quite sufficient to expel the child ; and
when aid is required, females are in every respect
calculated to render all the assistance required,
except perhaps on some rare or extraordinary cases.
A very little instruction and experience will enable
any sensible female to become proficient in this
branch of medicine ; and I venture to affirm that
her success will be far greater than that of male
practitioners. Iri proof, I refer to the practice of
Mrs. Ruth Stebbins, of Westfield, Mass., Mrs.
Halsey, of New York, and hundreds of others,
whose great success is ample evidence of their
170 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
skill and competency. Also, Madame Boivin, and
Lachapelle, of France, who have been present at
the delivery of more than forty thousand cases,
nearly all of which terminated favorably, even
without aid ; and observe also the great success
of other midwives in Germany, Denmark, and
other parts of the world. So stupidly or wilfully
blind are many females, that they are ignorant
that nature accomplishes the delivery, and that
the doctors get the credit and the fee, while the
worthy and skilful midwife is pronounced igno-
rant or incompetent. I cannot see why such a
custom, so recent, unnatural, and novel in its cha-
racter, should have prevailed and gained such an
ascendency, except in the same manner that every
other foolish and absurd fashion prevails.
" I have practised this branch of medicine ever
since I began my profession ; but so fully con-
vinced have I been that it is wrong, and belongs
to the other sex, that I have abandoned it to its
rightful owners, the female midwives ; and I am
therefore as anxious to bring about a reformation
in this department as in other branches of medi-
cine. I trust that I shall have at least the enlight-
ened portion of community to sustain me in a cause
of such vital importance both to the moral and
physical well-being of the female sex. The tales
that are told by designing physicians of the hair-
breadth escape of numerous women, to whom
they have been called just in time to save life,
and of the danger of trusting to females, have filled
those over whom they have an influence with
awful apprehension, and thereby secured to them-
selves a branch of medicine that reason, experi-
ence, and the finer feelings of the female sex loudly
proclaim, belongs only to females."
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 171
Says Mrs. Arnold, of Westfield, Mass., in a let-
ter to the editor of the Botanic Medical Reformer,
" It (man-midwifery) is contrary to every principle
of delicacy and refinement, and disgusting to
every feeling of our nature. It is an unheard-of
practice in most countries, except in some parts
of Europe and enlightened America. It is degrad-
ing to our natures, and a reproach to any people
who submit to the practice."
CHAPTER II.
8ENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR TREATMENT IN CHILD-BIRTH
PREVIOUS TREATMENT. — The mother's cordial^
mentioned in this work, should be taken two or
three weeks previous to confinement. If costive,
take enough of the pills No. 1, to keep the bowels
regular. If troubled with acidity of the stomach,
take the anti-dyspeptic powder after eating. Take
half a tea-spoonful of valerian and as much com-
position, occasionally at bed time.
TREATMENT DURING LABOR. — When labor com-
mences, which may be known by the regular
" bearing-down pains" send for the most expe-
rienced woman in your vicinity ; if she will not
take the responsibility, let the husband take it
himself, provided he or the woman know how to
proceed. If neither know any thing about it, get
the best Thomsonian physician you can find, and
in case there is none near, get the regular that
gives the sick the least medicine. The physician
or midwife should first ascertain whether the
pains are true or false. True pains may be known
by their location, being more concentrated in the
17
172 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
portion of the bowels, through the loins and hip,
returning every ten or fifteen minutes, leaving the
woman comparatively easy in the intervals.
It will be proper for the midwife, at this period,
to examine, in order to ascertain what part of the
child presents, which may be done by passing the
largest finger, dipped in sweet oil or slippery elm
aucilage, up the vagina, and the nature of the
presentation can be determined. In ninety-nine
cases in a hundred, the presentation will be natu-
ral, the head presenting. If the feet or breech
presents, the labor should be allowed to progress
without turning, as the most experienced mid-
wives admit that more danger and suffering at-
tends an interference, than when nature is left
wndisturbed. If the arm or shoulder present, the
delivery is not impossible, but difficult, until the
infant be turned, and the feet brought down into
the passage.
When it is ascertained that the labor is natural,
or that there are no impediments or obstacles,
there will be but very little more to do than to
superintend the person. It will be necessary to
give instruction to the attendants to have every
thing required in readiness. The usual custom is
to turn the feather-bed back towards the head,
and lay a folded coverlet or rug upon the under
bed ; the woman should lie on the left side, near
the edge of the bed, with her feet in contact with
the bed-post, and a pillow between the knees.
The attendants should be cheerful, not exciting
the fears of the woman by ominous looks or the
relation of unfavorable cases of the kind. If the
pains are severe and protracted, let the bed be
immediately arranged, and all necessary provision
made for the birth of the child. If labor pro-
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
gresses slowly, add a tea-spoonful each of composi-
tion cayenne and valerian to a pint of strong rasp-
berry leaf tea, and give in half cupful doses. If the
pains continue severe, in consequence of a rigidity
of the muscles, and but little is accomplished there-
by, administer an injection, composed of two tea-
spoonfuls of the injection powder, and give the
emetic powder, prepared the same as for an emetic,
in small quantities, until the system becomes re-
laxed. Local relaxation may also be produced by
applying warm baths to the parts. Dr. Burns, in
his work on Obstetrics, remarks, " A fundamental
principle in midwifery is, that relaxation or dimi-
nution of resistance is esseritial to an easy delivery ;
and could we discover any agent capable of effect-
ing this rapidly and safely, we should have no
tedious labors, except from the state of the pelvis
or position of the child." The agent so earnestly
desired by Dr. Burns, is found in the lobelia infla-
ta, which " rapidly and safely" relaxes the mus-
cular system, without producing permanent de-
bility ; the use of which will render unnecessary
the barbarous steel, so frequently used by the
faculty to kill the unborn child.
In the last stage of labor, the hand may be
kept near the parts, to know the moment when
the head of the child presents, as some little assist-
ance at this time is called for, to remo've the
obstruction arising from the clothes, to support the
head of the child in its passage and in the inter-
val of pains, and keep it from pitching downward,
and to detach the umbilical cord from the neck,
when found around it. After the birth of the
head, the pains follow each other in quick succes-
sion until the child is born.
TYING AND CUTTING THE NAVEL STRING. — After
174 \ A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
the birth of the child, and all pulsation has ceased
in the navel string, it should be tied with two
ligatures, one about an inch, and the other two
inches from the body, cutting the cord midway
between the ligatures. The child should then be
handed to the nurse to be washed clean and dressed.
MANAGEMENT OF THE PLACENTA OR AFTER-BIRTH.
— After the delivery of the child, the mother
should take some warm porridge, and be allowed
to remain quiet, until the labor pains are renewed,
when the navel string may be gently drawn, and
the placenta will be expelled. If it should be
retained more than an hour, administer an injec-
tion the same as before, which will generally pro-
duce the desired effect in a few minutes. If the
operation of the injection does not expel it, give
the emetic powder as before directed, which will
increase nature's efforts, and never fail to accom-
plish the object, without the necessity of manual
force.
CHAPTER III.
TREATMENT AFTER DELIVERY.
Soon after the discharge of the after-birth, the
mother should be got up, her clothes changed, her
person washed with warm water by means of a
sponge or cloth, and the bed properly arranged,
into which she should be immediately placed. A
broad bandage may be put around the abdomen,
and a soft linen or cotton cloth should be pro-
vided to absorb whatever may be discharged, and
removed as often as necessary. She should now
take some warm porridge or gruel, and be allowed
to remain quiet.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 175
AFTER-PAINS. — These frequently come on soon
after the delivery. A warm brick at the feet,
composition tea and nerve powder will usually
prevent or relieve after-pains in a few hours. If
not, administer a course of medicine.
COSTIVENESS. — To prevent costiveness, take two
of the pills No. 1 at night, and a mild injection
every morning, for a few days, and avoid tea and
coffee, and fine flour bread. ;
FLOODING. — But little danger need be appre-
hended from flooding, as it rarely takes place
when the work is left to nature, with the aid of
remedies that act in harmony with her. If, from
any cause, it should take place, equalize the cir-
culation by giving lobelia in small quantities until
vomiting is produced. Put a warm brick at the
feet, and inject, if necessary, per vaginam, a strong
tea of witch hazel. ,
MILK LEG. — This is a white, elastic, and ex-
quisitely sensible swelling, commencing in the hip,
groin, or back, and proceeding down only one leg
at a time, attended with heat, pain, and an inability
to move the limb, and great suffering when moved.
The effect usually extends to the other leg, and
frequently becomes general. To prevent or cure
this form of disease, steam the lower extremities, '
and bathe in stimulating liniment, give composi-
tion and pills No. 1. If this does not remove the
cause, give a full course of medicine. |
SORE NIPPLES. — This complaint is exceedingly
troublesome to young mothers. Apply the meadow
fern ointment mentioned in this work, and protect
them with the nipple shields.
17*
176 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
CHAPTER IV.
TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.
STILL-BORN INFANTS. — When the child does not
show any signs of life, after being completely
discharged, a little cool water should be dashed in
the face, and along the spine, and upon the breast.
If the sprinklings do not succeed, immerse in
warm water, and rub the surface freely ; also put
a little Cayenne tea into the mouth from your
own, or through a silver tube. There is no harm
in persevering in the use of the means that have
been found successful, for you can but fail ; and
instances have been known of success after an
hour's apparently fruitless labor.
MECONIUM. — The first evacuation from the bow-
els is called the meconium. Much uneasiness is
sometimes manifested among nurses lest it should
not be discharged, and physic frequently resorted
to. A little molasses and water is all that is re-
quired, and seldom any thing to promote its dis-
charge, except the mother's milk.
FLATULENCY OR COLIC. — There is no custom
more injurious than that of dosing children for
every little appearance of uneasiness ; it deranges
the stomach and bowels, and leads to serious diffi-
culty. A little weak composition will usually
relieve flatulence or colic.
TONGUE-TIED. — Sometimes there is a thin, white
membrane, extending under the tongue almost to
the tip, so as to hold the tongue from projecting
beyond the teeth. This membrane should be
slightly cut with a pair of sharp scissors. If it
does not prevent the child from nursing, it need
not be cut until the child is a year old, and per-
haps not at all.
A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
RUPTURE. — Sometimes, from crying or other
causes, infants are afflicted with ruptures ; when
this happens, the earliest attention is required.
The infant or child should be placed in a recum-
bent position or on its back, then press the tumor
or protruded part back, make a compression of
linen, which has been previously wet in a decoc-
tion of oak bark, apply it over the rupture, and
secure it with a bandage. If this fails to keep it
in its proper situation, apply a truss.
TESTIMONY OF REGULAR PHYSICIANS IN FAVOR OF
FEMALE MIDWIVES, AND AGAINST THE INTERFE-
RENCE OF DOCTORS.
Says Dr. Beach, President of the Reformed
Medical College of New York, " Thanks and
blessings have been poured upon me, under the
idea that I had saved lives in labor, when I
had merely looked on and admired the perfectly
adequate powers of Nature, and superintended the
efforts of her work ; and it is Nature that accom-
plishes all, while the accoucheur gets the credit
of it. There is not one case in a thousand in
which you can do more than remain a silent spec-
tator, except to calm the fears of the ignorant and
timid attendants. The mischief and injury that
is done by the untimely interference of art, is in-
calculable. In pregnancy, women are bled till
they have not strength enough to accomplish de-
livery ; and, when it takes place, the forceps or
other instruments are used, which often prove fa-
tal to the mother or child, or both.
" Were all women instructed in this branch,
|78 A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
many lives would be saved. They ought to be
instructed in midwifery, and those who are of a
proper turn of mind should be well qualified to
act in the capacity of mid wives : NO MAN SHOULD
EVER BE PERMITTED TO ENTER THE APARTMENT OF
A WOMAN IN LABOR, EXCEPTING IN CONSULTATIONS
OR ON EXTRAORDINARY OCCASIONS. THE PRACTICE
IS UNNECESSARY, UNNATURAL, AND WRONG."
Dr. Bard, in speaking of the abominable inter-
ference of doctors under the pretence of making
room for the child to pass, says, "It is impos-
sible to censure this dangerous practice too severe-
ly ; it is always wrong, nor can there be any
period in labor — the most easy and natural, the
most tedious and difficult, the most regular or pre-
ternatural— in which it can be of the least use ;
in which it will not unavoidably do great mis-
chief : it will render an easy labor painful ; one
which would be short, tedious ; and which, if left
to nature, would terminate happily, highly dan-
gerous."
Says Dr. McNair, " All that is proper to be done
in a case of natural labor, from its commence-
ment to its termination, will suggest itself to any
person of common understanding ; and I have
long labored under the conviction that the office
of attending women in their confinement should
be entrusted to prudent females. There is not,
according to my experience and the reports of the
most eminent surgeons, more than one case in ten
thousand that requires the least assistance. I am
aware, however, that there are crafty physicians
who attempt and often succeed in causing the dis-
tressed and alarmed female to believe that it would
be altogether impossible for her to get over her
trouble without their assistance ; and for the pur-
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. 179
pose of making it appear that their services are
absolutely necessary, they will be continually in-
terfering when there is not the least occasion for
it. It is my confirmed opinion, after forty years'
practice, that there would be much less danger in
cases of confinement, if they were entrusted alto-
gether to females. There is no doubt in my mind
but that one half of the women attended by these
men, are delivered before their proper period ; and
this is the reason why we see so many deformed
children, and meet with so many females who
have incurable complaints. If the business was
entrusted to aged mid wives, they would give more
time, and nature would have an opportunity to do
its work ,• and if necessary, advice might be had
with more safety."
" It is a very common circumstance," says Dr.
Beach, " for an inexperienced practitioner to rup-
ture the bladder in the attempt to rupture the
membrane, which would render the woman mise-
rable during life. I am acquainted with twenty-
five or thirty females who have met with this sad
misfortune, and many of them were attended by
those who were termed our most successful or old
experienced physicians."
Dr. Rush, speaking of child-bearing among the
Indians, says that " Nature is their only midwife.
Their labors are short, and accompanied with but
little pain, and she returns in a few days to her
usual employment ; so that she knows nothing of
those accidents which proceed from the careless-
ness or ill management of midwives or doctors,
or the weakness that arises from a month's con-
finement in a warm room."
Says Dr. Whitney, " I pledge myself as a phy-
sician, that all honest doctors will tell you that
1§Q A GUIDE TO HEALTH.
labor is the work of nature ; and she generally
does it best when left to herself."
Says Dr. Curtis, Professor of the Medical Insti-
tute at Cincinnati, speaking of the use of instru-
ments, the lancet, opium, and ergot in midwifery,
" Strange to tell, these and similar are the means
which men have introduced into the ' art of aiding
women in child-birth/ on account of which they
claim superiority of skill over the proper sex,
whose highest ambition was to watch the indica-
tions of nature, to aid her timely and promptly.
Sad change ! when almost constant wretchedness
takes the place of rare and partial inconvenience.
I lay it down as a rational position, on the strength
of historical testimony as well as sound logic, that
women are as able as other animals to reproduce
their species without extrinsic aid."
Says Dr. Dewees, a popular author on Midwife-
ry, " It is a vulgar prejudice, that great and con-
stant benefit can be derived from the agency of an
accoucheur, especially during the active state of
pain ; and this feeling is but too often encouraged
by the ignorant and designing, to the injury of
the patient, and to the disgrace of the profession."
Dr. Blundell, in his Obstetrics, relates a case
where he was called in consultation, after the sci-
entific M. D. had labored two days to eifect the
delivery of a child. He says, " On entering the
apartment, I saw the woman lying in state, with
nurses, accoucheur, and all the formalities attend-
ing a delivery ; one small point only was necessary
to complete the labor, which was, that she should
be pregnant ; although the practitioner, one of the
omnipotent class, had distinguished the child's
head, there was in reality no child there. A few
hours after, the patient died, and on examining
A GUIDE TO HEALTH. jgj
the abdomen, we found the peritoneum full of
water, but the womb was unimpregnated, and no
bigger than a pear."
Dr. Ewell, in speaking of man midwifery, after
thirty years' practice, says, " I view the present
increasing practice of calling upon men in ordi-
nary births, as a source of serious evils in child-
bearing, as an imposition upon the credulity of
women, and upon the fears of their husbands ; as
a means of sacrificing delicacy, and consequently
virtue — it is the secret history of adultery. " In
his remarks to the ladies on this subject, he says,
" Away with your forebodings when pregnant ;
believe the truth, that in all human probability
you will do perfectly well, that the most ordinary
woman can render you every needful assistance
without the interference of doctors. Their hurry,
their spirit for acting, have done the sex more
harm than all the injudicious management of mid-
wives, of which they are so fond of talking. This
Dr. Denman, Dr. Buchan5 and many other really
great physicians, have long since remarked."
In view of the facts here presented, coming
from the highest authority, who that has candidly
considered the subject, does not feel a spirit of
indignation against a class of men who should thus
dupe and deceive confiding and suffering females ?
Let light on this subject be diffused among the
fair sex, and an eternal veto will be put upon the
practice of male midwives. " Even so let it be.11
Milford Thomsonian Depot.
JOHN BURNS,
AT HIS ESTABLISHMENT IN
MILFORD, IV. H.,
KEEPS CONSTANTLY ON HAND FOR SALE AN EXTENSIVE STOCK
OF
GENUINE
TIIOMSONIAIV IVIEDICIIYES,
AMONG WHICH ARE THE FOLLOWING, VIZ : —
Cayenne,
Green Lobelia,
Brown do.
Nerve Powder,
Golden Seal,
Ginger,
Slippery Elm,
Poplar Bark,
Fine Bayberry,
Coarse do.
Unicorn root,
Bethroot,
Balmony,
Scnllcap,
Also,
Composition,
Spiced Bitters,
Female Restorative,
Strengthening Plaster,
Cancer Plaster,
Meadow-fern Ointment,
Stimulating Liniment,
Head-ache Snuff,
Healing Salve,
Anti-Dyspeptic Bread,
Cough Powder and Drops,
Wine Bitters
Hot Drops,
Nerve Ointment, &c.
Various kinds of Syrups,
Nearly every article used in the Botanic practice may be
found at this establishment, warranted pure and free from
adulteration.
The proprietor of this establishment will take any of the
roots, barks and herbs mentioned in this work, in a crude state,
in exchange for compounds or prepared medicines.
att
I
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